The Winston Giles Orchestra

“Here’s a little song you might like to learn… might like to learn… might like to learn”, intones a prim teacher. And before you know it you’re singing along. A Little Song is the third track on Soundtracks for Sunrise and if you’ve listened to this point you’ll be beaming like a pupil-dilated raver witnessing a new dawn.
Giles, with CJ Dolan (from Quench), has created a souffle-light, honey-dipped electronic delight: think Lemon Jelly with less whimsy and tighter song construction.
The blueprint is set with the opener We Wait For Sunrise, where brief, spoken samples are woven through layer upon layer of mostly synthesised sounds. The effect is gently hypnotic yet never dull. The album maintains a balance of melodic sweetness and a faint undercurrent of something namelessly sinister (the spooky back-masked vocals on Morning Shine) until the odd penultimate track, The Banished Matadors, where previously-heard horns and strumming guitars suddenly mutate into a strident mariachi band. Depending on your mood it’s a welcome change or an intrusion. A near-perfect late summer album - SHOUT MAGAZINE

If you have plans to take a walk through the golden fields of Apollo, this might be good music to put on your iPod.
‘Soundtracks for Sunrise’ is a joyful, epic voyage through a dreamy world of psychedelic folk and ambient electronica.
Imagine that The Flaming Lips died from a tragic acid overdose, and that Paul Simon and DJ Shadow were in charge of the funeral music. Now imagine that, in the middle of the funeral, The Flaming Lips got up out of their coffins, set up their instruments, and began to play an improvised set of joyous celebration. If Paul Simon and DJ Shadow joined in, they might make this album.
Luckily, Mr Winston Giles saved everyone the trouble and just made it himself. - UK PLANNER

As the album’s name suggests, The Winston Giles Orchestra create an array of sound beds here that bring with them a sentimental and dreamlike quality associated with dawn.

In general, there’s an uplifting aspect to this album. Even at its darker end (tracks such as ‘Mercy For The Wicked’, which sounds like it could be an outcast from the Bladerunner score), there’s still a light and airy feel permeating the songs.

Tracks like ‘Golden’ and ‘Welcome To The Hotel’ are nothing short of radiant electro-pop, their sampled vocal grabs and flowing melodic arrangement making them easy on the ears. Much of the album shares this friendly and welcoming aesthetic and it’s certainly an album that will pop a smile on your face if listened to at the right time of the day. - TIME OFF MAGAZINE

Summer may be but a distant memory on the horizon but you can cast aside the impending gloom and sub zero temperatures outside with this wonderful record. “S.F.S.” as the title suggests is a record so laid back it’s virtually horizontal. It’s the record Air should have made to follow up “Moon Safari” – all cleverly layered beats, textured keyboard swathes and the odd sample a la The Avalanches another comparable touchstone for the band. Standout track “Welcome To The Hotel” is quite possibly the best single The Flaming Lips never made this year. Even better is the house infused “The Banished Matador” with its flamenco guitars and Tex-Mex percussion. Who would have thought it possible for a decent summery chill out record to get a release in the middle of November? - GOD IS IN THE TV

After performances in 13th Floor, Atari Baby and his occasional stints spinning in the back room of the Prince, the notorious Winston Giles is back under the moniker ‘The Winston Giles Orchestra’. Born in ‘74, Giles has toured extensively throughout Australia and the United States with an impressive body of work, yet the sophisticated production and ethereal sensibilities of his latest full length album bear little resemblance with any of his back catalogue.

Opening with a lush soundscape that sounds like someone locked Syd Barrett, Dr Alex Paterson and the MSO in a room for a week with a cauldron of psychedelics, ‘We wait for sunrise’ shows off Giles’ nimble fretwork complimented with a perfectly weighted horn section. As the song rises to a stunning crescendo you can do naught but sit up and smile as a cascade of dazzling melodies surround you.

The second cut, ‘Welcome to the Hotel’ is of a more ponderous nature; with a noticeable drop in tempo, understated vocals, reverbs and echo’s. Following this is ‘A little song’, an enjoyable little day trip that sounds like Patsy Bisco meets Tim Leary, perhaps as good an indication of the artists own sense of humour as you’re likely to get from just listening to the album.

Like Pink Floyd at their most menacing, credit must also be given to CJ Dolan for the marvellous production work that permeates the album. It is most apparent on ‘Mercy for the Wicked’, an especially haunting exercise in the progression of chords and percussion. Closing out the album is the Spanish influenced ‘The Banished Matadors’, a tune just begging for a full scale house remix so it can destroy dance floors at peak time. Part Sergio Leone and part Tito Puente, resplendent with castanets and a Spanish horn section, this track should leave you equipped with an attitude to take on the coming day with all the style and tenacity of the suavest bullfighter.

Throughout the album Giles’ acoustic dexterity combine perfectly with string, horn and keyboard arrangements culminating in what could only be described as a remarkably upbeat and optimistic album. Vocals are scattered throughout the album, however it could almost be described as an instrumental. Though the album works well at any time of the day, for best results I suggest a dose early in the morning, regardless of whether you have been to bed or not.
- THE SCENE

Admittedly I hadn’t even heard of The Winston Giles Orchestra before I was confronted with their CD. I was a bit sceptical at first, thinking that it would be another chil-lout CD like all the rest, but was wrong.
The Aussie orchestral group provides you with the music to take you to magical places. The acoustic guitar and the trumpet in the first song, We Wait For Sunrise, get you ready for the journey. The next few tunes take you deep underground and into rainforests and the sky. It is dreamy and techno at the same time. A few dance tracks, which wouldn’t go astray at Enchanted, create a climax in the album, which is then brought down with a song with a western cowboy film feel to it but the techno is still there. There are a few rock and ballad type moments but the only words are electronic. For a first album for these guys, (it is written produced by Winston Giles and C.J. Dolan) it is going to be hard to top with a second. This is one of the most beautiful musical albums to come out this year and it sure is staying in my collection for those clear nights whilst lying on the roof, watching the sunrise. - RIP IT UP

A mash of 70s white-trash horns, lunar-flow rhythms, kid’s singalong albums, unidentified flying samples and comfortable-shoes acoustic guitar – on paper it might look like inaccessible noise-mongering, but it’s pure commuter Zen – the only thing keeping you from floating right out the car window is the occasional coffee-spraying clown-around.
Elements include ELO, “Bell is a Cup”-era Wire, Verve and Coldplay. Giles takes the nicest melodies that ever infested his skull and builds around them as someone trying to leave a legacy rather than baffling a few unarmed straights.
Techno-trip doesn’t get more good-natured than this – Giles graces us with a generous shot of dopamine from his transparently positive soul. - SKOPE MAGAZINE

From his other project Atari Baby, to this, his latest offering, I’m finding I’m totally digging Winston’s work right now.
This time around it’s The Winston Giles Orchestra and from the outset the music is both challenging and different; surreal yet absorbing; immediate but removed – in any case it’s fantastic.
10 tracks made up from elements of electronic beats and samples, trance/dance styles and chill out grooves, all combine to take the listener on a very real musical journey. From the Spanish flavourings of The Banished Matadors, to the beautifully alluring samples of A Little Song through the many moods of Revenge and Mercy For The Wicked, the atmospheric creations rise and fall keeping you totally enthralled til the end.
‘Soundtracks For Sunrise’ is an ambitious album that you can never tire of. There’s simply too much musical wonderment to be discovered! - DANCE ONLINE

Hop in your hammock with a Pina Colada and lay back. ‘We Wait For Sunrise’ reminds me of a Sunday morning basking in the sunshine. It’s playful and inspiring – a definite up!
Electronic sounds and sampled vocals combine with cool clean trickling guitars, smooth synths and bangin’ beats. It’s lounge with
a touch of magic and plenty of cerebral stimulation, making one want to run through a field of paper daisies with its blend of eclectic mixdowns incorporated
with a touch of Sgt. Pepper and California grooves. There’s literal pretty sounds in ‘A Little Song’; a bit of tongue-in-cheek drama in ‘Revenge’, as well as some
seriously sexy synth in ‘The Hostess’ and 'Mercy for the Wicked’ (think Pink Floyd and Alan Parsons Project). ‘The Banished Matadors’ makes you think of Spain in
the 25th century, while other tracks take you into outer space, under water, or even other worlds…and then back to the hammock
with cocktail in hand!
Drink it up.
- BMA

For an album recorded during a harsh Melbourne winter, Soundtrack for Sunrise radiates plenty of sunny beats and samples. The album by the Winston
Giles Orchestra is the latest project by dance music producers Winston
Giles and CJ Dolan (also known as Atari Baby).
Not unlike UK duo Lemon Jelly, WGO merge genteel recorded speech samples with zesty horn and string sounds, subtle acoustic guitar strums, and energetic electronic beats.
Soundtrack for Sunrise is a fitting title for much of the atmospheric
soundscapes that beam out from your stereo speakers. There's a gentleness in
this chill out pop that prevents you from ever tiring of WGO's mellow
musings. One of 2004's best. - AUSTRALIAN MUSICIAN