PSEU

French obscurity from Prog darkest years, only released in 2004 on Musea.Pseu came from Bordeaux and were active from late-70's until 1983.The original core was Christian Coutzac on bass/vocals, Philippe Dulong on guitar, Christophe Godet on drums and Francois Meunier, Pierre Delair on keyboards.Philippe Canellas joined them on bass in 1980 for a couple of years, the same period Meunier decided to leave the band.In 1981 Delair also quit and Erik Baron on bass, Thierry Jardiner on keyboards become member of Pseu until their demise in 1983.The material on this CD comes from sessions during the group's lifetime, recorded at two different studios, Studio Carat and Studio Le Chalet.

Pseu were heavily inspired by the French Zeuhl tradition and their style was an orgasmic Prog Fusion with wordless voices, deep bass lines with some complex playing and a flexible work on guitars and keyboards, often linked with Jazz Music.They sometimes appear to throw in some funky moves in the process to deliver a less dark and more pleasant atmosphere, but their sound was actually quite sinister with the KING CRIMSON guitar abnormalities dominating the album and a mood for technical plays, full of breaks and sudden changes, being the leading forces of the album, which contains extended instrumental themes.The influence of MAGMA is evident throughout the listening, the music has this outlandish, operatic atmosphere, which characterized the albums of the French pioneers, while there are also some light, jazzy grooves similar to Belgians COS to be found in the album.The later tracks, which are also the longest ones, saw the band escaping a bit from the Zeuhl borders, these pieces even contain some regular French singing and narrations with theatrical touches and plenty of melodic guitar moments with a laid-back keyboard background, which can be compared to JEAN PAUL PRAT's work of the same period.

Christophe Godet was the only member apparently continuing his career within the prog territory, joining Minimum vital in 1985, around the time the band was still named Concept.So no surprise that Minimum vital's Payssan brothers were among the participants in collecting Pseu's lost tapes.

Tight and very technical Fusion/Zeuhl with impressive guitar work, balanced keyboards and a dark enviroment.Recommended to all fans of the style.