AU CRÉPUSCULE DU TEMPS

Short-lived and little known French band from Granville, which was formed in 1997 and consisted of guitarists Willy Mercier and Rodolphe Cloitre, drummer Sebastien Bouree, bassist Yvan Le Guennec and multi-instrumentalist Julien Prevot.Reputedly they were a constant live entry in the local area and they somehow got a deal with the Italian mega-prog label Mellow Records, on which their sole album ''Au crepuscule du temps...'' was released in 2000.One Giorgio Brugnone appears to have helped the band both on acoustic and electric piano.

There's no doubt that Rara Avis in Terris were extremely influenced by PINK FLOYD, almost plagiarazing at moments the style of ''Wish you were here'', but I can detect influences ranging from ''The dark side of the moon'' through ''The final cut''.Here the focus is in long, instrumental trips with psychedelic guitars, mellow sax parts and spacey keyboard underlines to result extended, atmospheric soundscapes.There is little room for French-speaking lyrics, but these seem to belong among the top moments of the album, coming as absolutely poetic and expressive.Otherwise the musicianship is mostly soft, ethereal and deeply psychedelic, led by the smooth guitar soloing and the hypnotic rhythm section, although the album still contains some stronger doses of energy through heavier guitar leads or the pair of scratching saxes appearing in a couple of tracks with a slight VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR background.The 20-min. self-title tracks seems like a lost tribute to PINK FLOYD, being in fact totally uneven, with some beautiful GILMOUR-ish guitar work but also some strange rhythmic tunes, the presence of which is rather needless.This work is based on the psychedelic side of Progressive Rock, passing also through some light, jazzy territories and a cosmic, trippy enviroment.

Despite a good album, Rara Avis in Terris disbanded sometime in 2001, following some promoting gigs, and the reason was no less than common as for many Prog-inspired groups: Lack of interest and financial problems.

A must-have for all PINK FLOYD fans and lovers of loose Psych/Prog with smooth guitar moves.Far from original but fairly decent material.Recommended.