OCÉAN

After the first album, Tiemko apparently decided to give up a bit with their neo-progressive and symphonic roots to focus more on a fusion approach to music. Fortunately, the avant-garde and odd flavours are still present, so when you add them to the band's magical musicianship, you won't end up with just an average jazz-fusion album you'd expect to hear.

The first part of the album consists of four quirky and weird tunes, which are well composed, yet they still manage to have a lot of improvisational feeling. "Épisode" starts off like if you were just dropped into the impenetrable depths of the ocean. The whole tune brings Magma to my mind, although Tiemko's sound is much more electronic, as the music is mostly led by the synthesizers and colourful guitar. At the end, there's also a neat drum solo by Mr. Delaunay himself. On "Hypercontraste", instead of drums, you'll hear a lot of vibraphone and even weirder synths. There's a jazz part in the middle, which is rather disturbing, yet nice and calming in some way. This might be my least favourite track in here, simply because it's harder for me to enjoy a track without a solid rythmic section. "Bonbon Très Sucré" is the pure fusion track, based on excellent acoustic guitar playing. It's also the most pleasant composition in Tiemko's discography, which shouldn't scare anyone away. "Vodka Frappée" takes us back to the fast and adventurous playing. Furious guitar solos, great drumming and (once again) very strange keys - I love every single thing in this one! This is the most intense composition on the album - definitely not for faint hearted. The second part of the album is the single track "Océan", which is basically a 20+ min. improvisation with composed parts weaved in it. I gotta say, this is one of my favourite Tiemko's works. An amazing, experimental journey, which - as Evolver rightly pointed out - remains intense the whole time. Electronic drum loops, majestic guitar solos, playing with synth's sounds - pure magic.

I was actually a little bit dissapointed once I gave this album a listen, mostly because I'm more of a symphonic and neo-prog lover myself. However, after some time it really started to grow on me, and now I appreciate it much, much more. Even though there seems to be just a tiny lack of attention-catching moments, there's nothing more to complain about. If you want to give this one a listen, prepare yourself for a wierd trip, which will surly leave you both grinded and satisfied. Extremely recommended to all the fusion/avant-garde/ocean lovers out there.