You could say THE HIDDEN CAMERAS' reputation precedes. After all, there can't be all that many predominantly gay 15-piece orchestral folk troupes out there with a penchant for playing shows in churches, art galleries and, er, Jewish Elderly Peoples' homes. Actually, come to think of it, if your reviewer was allowed a wish list of bizarre gigs he'd love to attend, then this latter would surely be near the top of the list.
So, anyway, media attention and a modicum of notoriety are assured, but remove the masks, balaclavas and male go-go dancers and are Toronto's Hidden Cameras actually any good when asked to translate their stage mystique into studio brilliance.
Their recent debut album, "The Smell Of Our Own" was an unequivocal "YES!" to that question and now "A Miracle" serves only to cement the fact that The Hidden Cameras are something very special indeed and anything but purely the faggy equivalent of the Polyphonic Spree, as the usual lazy tags are wont to put it.
Simply put, leader Joel Gibb's songs are sweet, melodic and seriously empathetic with that old chestnut we're forever wrestling with: the human condition. "A Miracle" is gentle, melancholic, folk-flecked (if that's tantamount to being based around acoustic guitars) and is filled out slowly and graciously with the loveliest of strings and woodwind. It doesn't outstay its' welcome by a second.
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Neither of the two B-sides are from "The Smell Of Our Own," but are easily as good again. "The Dying Galatian" comes storming in on a gorgeous massed violin hook and features lovely "Ruby Tuesday"-style flute interjections and Spector-ish timpani. If anything, though, the skittery "Heavy Flow Of Evil" betters it, with the plucked strings beautifully mirroring Gibb's vocal when he sings of "the black rainbow that melts into a heavy flow of evil." The only fault you find is that it peters out at an all-too-brief 2 minutes 45.
In a world built on tacky gimmicks and instant gratification, the truly strange Hidden Cameras seem like that rarest of breeds: the band who actually transcend the hype. "A Miracle" might be just that, but one supects they have a whole new testament of 'em at their disposal.
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