11

LAZULI French group, one of the most recognized? abroad; stallion group with the particularity of Claude's Léode. Formed in 1998, they explode on stage with a new, fresh sound, on world music and captivating crescendic titles. Followed since 2007, adoring their lyrics and this half-guitar, half-synth, half-demon electric Léode. Rock, folk; pop, on ANGE, on Peter GABRIEL for deep, moving and vibrant sounds; on SIMPLE MINDS (be careful, I'm not saying it's new wave either) for the symphonic flights; world music where the instrumental parts tirelessly lead back to prog. A 10th album, 11th in all including their 'Denuded' made of unplugged covers. Few chronicles I feel the trap.

"Cross oceans of vinyl" with a warm text on listening to 33 rpm, you know the record that cracked, listen to you will have the cracks. Intoxicating sweet melody where Dominique abuses her bewitching voice; the solo amplifies this moment, good as a start, end too soft. "Sad carnival" Dominique at the helm who recites his text, which is likely to stay in your head quickly; a nursery rhyme stirring memories where the orchestration is set back, too bad; ridiculous when you realize that the Léode moment is more hovering than in the other albums and brings an enjoyable ephemeral singularity. "Who else but the other" vibrating keyboard, slide guitar and I find the sound of LAZULI, the one that melts; a latent rise, a screaming guitar cry, Arnaud transcends this title, and the warm, fat, subtle solo makes me stop thinking, it's beautiful, we don't know if it's a 4 or 8 minute title , time fades away. Awesome. Acoustic guitar "handsaw" à la SUPERTRAMP, no à la BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST, yes I can't help giving hints; hymn title with an air à la SIMPLE MINDS for the plaintive notes as on 'Mandela Day'; in short, nothing new here but a title that must explode, bluff more than one on stage, to be continued. "Grey Lagoon" same departure, acoustics and voice; redundancy yes, ballad-rhyme to listen to in a pub, a mug of beer in hand, humming the 'ah-ah-ah'; it's the slide-country-greasy guitar solo that gets you going.

"Let's talk about time" with a very beautiful text, yes you have to take a moment and say it, the texts are bewitching, put forward and the orchestration is in fact set back, a certain fact on this nostalgic ballad, instruments which miss me. "The mourner in the rain" with a tune where the keyboard can still make you think of SUPERTRAMP; title-climb in two stages with another carabine solo from Arnaud to fly away until the end, that he is gifted this Arnaud. "The old-fashioned words" which send me back to these little Genesis laments between two large titles, as an interlude; a guitar arpeggio to guide Dominique's words, text still forward. "The cattle truck" ah finally a prog intro, I'm hard but I chronicle; the horn on a tune à la James BOND and the voice which wants to be more sustained, less nursery rhyme; the digression is nervous, the Léode returns to LAZULI with a twirling sound, superb 2nd title I am reborn. "A thousand dreams out of their cage" piano-rhyme with Dominique in front; the orchestral moment is more in continuity than as a frank space with a soft ending. "Le grand emptiness" I thought that it must be hard to compose, to find words to captivate.

LAZULI with Arnaud as a real '' frontman guitar '' gives a sequel to the magnificent concept album on Dieter; a modern music where the text is king, fortunately 'saved' by the instrumental flights. Simpler music, less complicated, it is launched; the pandemic is of course orienting them towards world-poetic-melodic sound, modern music that could be played on the radio, which risks posing a problem for many progues who plunged into dreamlike musical delusions. This is the downside without a doubt on their latest opus, a bet to dust off this dying prog? To get out of this spiral? You will have the choice to listen to the words, beautiful, very beautiful, but with this overrated society will they hit the mark... at the risk of having the evils of the lack of orchestral parts; the digibook is very beautiful for your information.

'Onze'('11') is the 10th studio album (and 11th if counting 'Denude', a group of acoustic renditions of songs from the previous albums) by a French prog rock ensemble Lazuli. Symbolically, the record consists of eleven compositions, all written by the singer-guitarist Dominique Leonetti. His brother, Claude, has done all the mixing, mastering and arranging work on the album. 'Onze' is the first album with new lead guitarist Arnaud Beyney. Also, like the artwork and cover design.

Some info from theprogressiveaspect.net on the circumstances in which the album was created: ' In the foreword to the new album, frontman/singer/composer Dominique 'Domi' Leonetti gives an extremely poetic and emotional account of the past period. A period dominated by the pandemic and, although horrific in nature and scope, but in which it also seemed that a new era had begun; one of peace, love and recovery for people, animals and nature, with even a glimmer of hope that this would lead to rethinking and, who knows, even a better world. But that hope is soon shattered, we are fully back in the rat race that determined our lives before the pandemic. '

1. Sillonner des océans de vinyles (5:03) is very acoustic to start, slow tempo and quiet. The sound is moving in ocean waves manner. Marimba is a nice touch, it adds to the atmosphere, creating that dreamy/mysterious feel. After a couple of verses, near the 3 minute mark, a good leode solo, very atmospheric. The melody fades till the end of the song. A pleasant start to an album (9,25/10) .

2. Triste carnaval (5:03) Simple but effective intro, continuing with the dreamy feel. Like the vocals here, very gentle. Intricate passages in the first verse are changed by the rocking ones in the chorus and next verse. Some nice variations on the core melody. At 4 minutes we get the spacey leode solo supported by guitars, which soon returns to the main theme for an ending. The most accessible song on the album? (9,5/10)

3. Qui d'autre que l'autre (4:36) is very dark to start. Like the guitar and leode passages that come and go around the keyboard root notes. A pause of silence before new melody is presented after the second verse followed by leode and guitar solos. I quite like the flow of this track (9/10) .

4. Égoïne (5:22) is way brighter than all of the preceding songs. Acoustic guitar intro accompanied with french horn playing (with some effects?) by Romain. The guitar and leode melodies into the chorus are loud and intense. The chord build up near the 3rd minute is an interesting decision. A good song, one of the best here actually (9/10) .

5. Lagune grise (5:21) is just acoustic guitar and vocals to start. It is a nice melody. Lead guitar and bass join later. The feel is melancholic, slow tempo. For a moment everything gets quieter to just vocals and acoustic guitar but eventually grows into a fine leode solo, which is a definite highlight of the song, in my opinion. The song is nice but pales in comparison to previous four (7,5/10) .

6. Parlons du temps (5:05) melancholic keyboard and drum intro. The bass also has its moments here. The chorus melody is not very different from the verse one, it is in the same tempo and has the same melancholic vibe, so I do not think that was a good decision, The song is fine, it just does not stand out for me, at least in this running order (7/10) .

7. Le pleureur sous la pluie (5:04) keyboard intro followed by delicate vocals and bass accompaniment. Some playful guiar lines in the verse melody. Chorus melody is full of melancholic leode passages. I dig the vocal build up and a brief pause before the fuller sound. The second verse contains more leode notes with that playful guitar. Another vocal build up which soon gives ground for a brilliantly melodic guitar solo. Love the soundscape here too, drums come to the fore, picking up the tempo in the end. One of the best songs on the album and my personal favourite (10/10) .

8. Les mots désuets (3:09) is just fragile vocals and acoustic guitar, which create simple but quite beautiful melody. It has that French chanson quality to it. It is a nice little song (7,5/10) .

9. La bétaillère (4:05) is different, starts with French horn sounds followed by heavy orchestration, almost brutal really. Guitars, bass and leode with horn and heavy drumming make a huge sounding, thunder-like melody. A quieter moment before 3rd minute with mild passages, brief pause of silence... then we get the craziest sounding leode solo, which ends the song. To my mind, this is the most rock sounding track on the record (8/10).

10. Mille rêves hors de leur cage (6:20) is a ballad with a pleasant melody to it. Piano and drums take the lead in establishing the ground for beautiful vocal performance by Dominique. The melody is moving slowly but firmly. The 'airy' leode, nice bass and Barnavol's brushes are effective in development of the main theme. Around 4:30 mark we get a nice melodic change on the keyboards, then return to the main theme for a fading conclusion. A feel good song, maybe a bit long, but I don't care that much (8,75/10) .

11. Le grand vide (5:11) a quiet and tender piano composition with vocals and marimba joining in. The overall mood is predominantly sad. It slowly fades away, in repetition. Very atmospheric. The song is calm but still impressive. A moody end to a moody album (8/10) .

'Onze' is a collection of songs soaked with atmospheric, moody, melodic music with poetic lyrics which reflect the period of COVID-19 pandemic. What I like the most about this record is its variety - the different moods, melodies, tempo, which always move and eventually evolve into other ones. I have to admit that 'Onze' is less rocky than 'Le fantastique envol de Dieter Böhm' and perhaps has a lesser amount of surprising lead guitar melodies. However, the vocal performances and production might be better on '11'.

This record was not as easy to get into as the previous one, may need several listens, but once it clicks with you - it won't let go!

One of France's best proggers of the 21st Century are back with their tenth studio album release. (Unlike the band, I do not count boxset / greatest hits albums.)

1. "Sillonner des océans de vinyles" (5:03) surprisingly poppy; unsurprisingly quite French--even ANGE-like. (8.75/10)

2. "Triste carnaval" (5:03) Wow! Sounds so much like a Bruce Swoord/THE PINEAPPLE THIEF song--only with French lyrics. (8.6667/10)

3. "Qui d'autre que l'autre" (4:36) a nice prog song with a heavier PORCUPINE TREE/NEMO feel and sound to it. (8.875/10)

4. "Égoïne" (5:22) strumming acoustic guitars open this one, leading us down a kind of 1970s folk rock à la HARMONIUM, AL STEWART, SUPERTRAMP, or ROD STEWART. (8.75/10)

5. "La lagune grise" (5:21) Swamp rock! Tom PETTY and The EAGLES. Awesome harp-like lull before the bombastic guitar solo in the instrumental section. (8.75/10)

6. "Parlons du temps" (5:05) A really pretty, heart-wrenching song. Kind of like an ANATHEMA song in many ways. A top three song for me. (9.25/10)

7. "Le pleureur sous la pluie" (5:04) could almost be a Soul/R&B song from Detroit in the early 1970s. Another surprisingly beautiful and emotional song. Claude Leonetti's Léode works incredibly well in this context! Great repeating chorus throughout the powerful instrumental passage. Another top three song. (9.25/10)

8. "Les mots désuets" (3:09) definitely sounds like a Serge Fiori (HARMONIUM) song with its solo folk acoustic guitar and single singing voice. (8.5/10)

9. "La bétaillère" (4:05) a much heavier song rooted in more American swamp/Southern rock chords/sounds. (8.33333/10)

10. "Mille rêves hors de leur cage" (6:20) sung in a theatric conspiratorial tone, this one could've easily come from a stage musical. I like the jazzy instrumentation chosen--as well as the rollicking finish. (8.66667/10)

11. "Le grand vide" (5:11) solo piano and delicate voice sung as if right into your ear opens this one. At 0:35 bass and xylophone join in bringing a little more intensity and drama to the song. My final top three song. (9/10)

Total Time 54:19

This album presents much more of a hodge-podge of pop-oriented songs collected as if tributes to old masters and styles than I was expecting. Surprisingly, I like all of it: vocalist Dominique Leonetti hits it out of the park on all counts!

B/four stars; an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection--though perhaps not as proggy as one might expect, this is just a great collection of nostalgic music.