SHEKINA

Band leaders Yochok'o Seffer (saxophones, clarinets, flutes, other winds) and keyboard player François Cahen are both alumni of the the foundational years of MAGMA--both left disgruntled due to the direction Christian Vander was taking the music (with the make-believe world of Kobaïa being equally important to the John Coltrane and Carl Orff influences that inspired the band's founders. Zao was born of this schism.

1. "Joy!" (3:54) one of my all-time favorite "happy songs," "Joy" is a song that just grooves and gets into your bones so that you can't help but get up and dance, be happy. Of course its in the funk being delivered by Gérard Prévost's bass, Jean-My Truong's drums, composer François Cahen's awesome keyboards, and Pierre Guignon's percussion, but it's also in the way the strings and Yochok'o Seffer's nasal saxophone holds notes, thereby allowing the instruments beneath him to be more noticed. (10/10)

2. "Yen-Lang" (8:10) The gentle use of ethnic flutes and percussion bells and shakers in the long (four-minute) opening section are awesome, as are the strings later. Once the song begins to "move," once can tell how the band members have retained some of the band's Zeuhl foundations with its quiet start and slow build, eventually using a pulsing, bass-infused, almost-single-chord (single key) melody line. An enjoyable and atmospheric song that comes across as more of a natural, primitive, group contemplation tune. (13.25/15)

3. "Zohar" (10:53) opens at a pretty fast speed with all band members laying it all on the line--though none more than drummer, Jean-My Truong. By the third minute the music transitions radically to an all-strings format, here sounding very much like something from one of the early SHAKTI albums (which would be virtually impossible since the initial Shakti recording sessions were occurring at almost the exact same time [July of 1975] as this material). At 5:00 bass, drums, keys and percussion sneak back in while strings disappear. Cahen's experimentation with keyboard sound takes over for a bit. Though the band is tight in their occasional cohesiveness (like in the whole-band burst in the final 90 seconds), the song lacks a unifying flow and overall feels a bit more like an experiment in experimentalism. (17.75/20)

4. "Metatron" (8:17) opens with Zeuhlish voices and sax and bass before taking off on a run through a series of challenging sections of disciplined precision-timed chord sequences. At two minutes, driving bass and drum race us along while keys, horns and voices move at a deliberately contrasting snail's pace. Things finally shift around the frenetically-paced drums as bass and keys open the way for some sax and keyboard solos. This smoother part is very reminiscent of both Weather Report and even Brand X (as well as Magma). An impressive song displaying an impressive drummer! (18/20)

5. "Zita" (4:38) François Cahen's second composition on the album (the others are all attributed to Yochok'o) opens quietly with sophisticated chamber strings play while electric piano and bass gently support weaving into a little soundtrack chamber music exercise with a sound that is kind of similar to both Eberhard Weber and Vangelis. The presence of the lone soprano voice slightly in the background is a very cool effect. Beautiful and peaceful. A tender, contemplative song that I adore! (9.5/10)

6. "Bakus" (5:13) is just angular weirdness--not unlike the music of 1990s Japanese artists BONDAGE FRUIT and KOENJI HYAKKEI. François' keys, bass, and drums really put their Zeuhl chops on full display here but really it's Seffer's vocals that I love the most: here sounding more like the fore-runner of those from 21st Century Japanese bands Koenji Hyakkei or OOIOO. Still, this is a solid song. (8.875/10)

Total Time 40:54

Opening with one of my all-time favorite 'happy songs', "Joy!" the rest of the album is interesting for the range of emotions it takes the listener through. Though Seffers, Cahen, Prévost and the rest of the band continue to move farther away from their Magma roots, and more into that of the Jazz-Rock/Fusion sub-genre, this is still an album I'd classify as 'Zeuhl'--unlike their next one, Kawana, which is pure jazz fusion (perhaps due to the addition of classically-trained, jazz/J-R Fusion-leaning violinist Didier Lockwood). There's something I like so much about this album. Kind of like the way I feel about AREA's Arbeit Macht Frei versus the more polished and virtuosic follow up, Crac!

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of Zeuhlish Jazz-Rock Fusion.

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