PSEU

Another rescue job from the patron saints at Musea Records who have been digging up long lost obscurities from the past and bringing them to life for the first time. While neo-prog was sweeping England in the early 80s as the comeback revival prog du jour, in France the zeuhl style unleashed by Magma never really died out although outside of the biggest acts such as Magma itself, the zeuhl style remained an underground sensation that very few were paying attention to at the time. The Bordeaux based PSEU was just one more act that never had a chance to release its material even though it recorded an album's worth of material in 1981-82.

The band existed from 1978 - 1983 and consisted of Philippe Dulong (guitar), Christophe Codet (drums), Eric Baron (bass), Thierry Jardiner (keyboards) and Christian Coutzac (vocals) and like all the underground sensations was active on the specialty club circuit which kept the zeuhl genre evolving ever further away from its parent source from Kobaia. This band was really obscure and lurked in the shadows even during its existence. While there is no doubt Magma was the primary influence (as is mostly the case with zeuhl acts), PSEU was one of the more uptempo outfits to tackle the Carl Orff inspired genre with its repetitive grooves and hypnotic atmospheric elegance.

PSEU was also one of the more energetic bands which while not exactly incorporating large stentorian choirs, offered thundering bass grooves, avant-prog inspired guitar sweeps sounding a bit like the works of early Present as well as crafting a more melancholic vibe that could easily point to the early moments of Univers Zero. While the instrumentation is sparse, PSEU made the most of it with only Christian Courtzac who offers both wordless utterances as well as mostly frantic spoken dialogue in French. The album begins with shorter tracks such as "Biguine" which are right out of the Magma playbook but at the end of the album three lengthy tracks of over 10 minutes each offer more diverse influences ranging from jazz fusion and the theatrical antics of Ange.

Overall PSEU was one of those between the cracks zeuhl bands that never really developed a distinct style that is unabashedly original however the material these guys did record was just off enough from anything especially in the use of guitar and musical motif arrangements that it offered a different shade of similar acts such as Uppsala, Abus Dangereaux and of course Magma itself. The things that it offers apart from other bands included avant-prog leanings ranging from the early RIO of Univers Zero and Present to the more discordant guitar work of Robert Fripp in King Crimson's most experimental phases and the Ange like vocal escapades. While Magma purists will surely deem this as close enough to be considered a mere copycat, careful listening will reveal glaring differences and since the performances are excellent and the compositions are enthralling for anyone who enjoys the micro-differences within the zeuhl genre will find themselves enthralled.