DEUX

One of the weirder things of this Quebecois duo is that their two albums are completely different, yet just as stunningly beautiful. With this album, the duo is definitely more inclined between TD and Mike Oldfield or Vangelis or even in some ways Jean Michel Jarre. One could also think of some of The Enid's most symphonic works too. Although not nearly as adventurous s the first album (as the rather bland artwork will tell you right away) the album is nonetheless extremely interesting in the way that that the album is an Vangelico- Oldfield-Froesian masterpiece and more than just a heavily influenced album, a great album, period.

Much more interesting than the rather empty Tubular Bells or Incantations, much more enthralling and Froese's Aqua or Ash Ra's later 70's music and much more convincing than Vangelis' Earth, this album is an altogether more accessible album than their debut collaboration, but just as stupendous (even grandiose, but never cheesy) in its own way. As you might guess, the multi-movement suite of Le Prophète is the centrepiece, but the twoi tracks on side 2 are also worth their weight, even if Campus has a not too-lengthy drum/percussion solo (not a fan of those).

Well this second album is greatly different from its debut, but in its own way, is just as essential. A third album was foreseen and partly written, but apparently not really recorded except for one great track (in the same genre as Deux) for a soundtrack, and is presented as a bonus on the re-issue.

Ambitious work from this Canadian progressive electronic collective. They propose beautiful, melodic, cosmic electronic inventions with lot of synth scales, gorgeously orchestrated epic ambiences. For my part I think that it sounds a bit dated and mainstream. Their style is really classical & cheesy but reveals some interesting mysterious, spaced out variations. All compositions have this special harmonised atmosphere thanks to grandiose keyboards and heroics passages. "Prologue" is a semi-medieval ambience dominated by organic continuous sound forms, bucolic flute lines. "Le prophete" is a massive, melodic and emotional electronic epic, containing really distinctive synthesiser lines (reminding some Goblins' dark hymns). After 8 minutes the sound becomes more symphonic with middle age intonations. "Campus" is a ridiculous mainstream electronic composition with accessible, really kitsch & exotic melodies. However a good mention to the second half of the composition with its furious improvised, really proggy keyboard / drum duet. No super exciting and the synth combinations are always in the same tone (really linear for the ears). Recommended for fans of new agey synth essays and mysterious symphonic epics.

When I felt I was scrapping the bottom of the barrel when it comes for prog rock, a few years back I started looking towards the prog scene in Quebec and unearthed a bunch of gems. Harmonium is a bit obvious, perhaps, because even mainstream Quebec society knows who they are. They're that well-known and famous there. Enough for a made for TV movie on them in 2003 (although Serge Fiori was less than happy with the movie and how he and the band was presented, from my understanding). I know Beau Dommage was also very big. Through the years I discovered great stuff from Pollen, Et Cetera, Sloche, Opus 5, and Morse Code. Some of these groups come from folk backgrounds (Harmonium most noted), some of them Gentle Giant influenced (Et Cetera most notable), and others taking from either fusion or the British and French scenes (Morse Code, for example). But there hadn't been a whole lot of electronic acts, and Vincent Dionne and Michel-Georges Brégent is an example, and I'm so glad I discovered them. I started with Deux, which is their second album, which is no surprise, given the title (in cause you didn't know, "deux" is French for "two"). The avant garde leanings of their debut was absent here, going for a more symphonic approach, most particularly on "Le Prophète". They did not sell out in any way, shape or form. This is nothing short of amazing, this album is full of Moog, Orchestron, clavinet, Farfisa organ, and tons of drums and percussion done in that nice '70s fashion I so love. There's even a little Mellotron, some tron flute towards the end of "Le Prophète", but for some strange reason Michel-George Brégent preferred the Orchestron (the Vako Orchestron is a professional grade version of Mattel's Optigan, which runs on flimsy optical discs). It's easy to tell you're hearing an Orchestron because it has a more muddy, scratchy sound to it, and you can hold a note indefinitely. "Campus" has a bit more of a fusion oriented feel to it, I really love how Vincent Dionne's drumming catches up to the pace of the synth sequencer pattern. "Transit Express" has a bit of a Tangerine Dream thing going on with a synth pattern (the synth also sounds like how Cameron Hawkins of FM might have sounded had he recorded an album of electronic music around this time period, rather than the crossover prog FM were doing around this time). As far as I'm concerned, this is rather original electronic music, and I highly recommend this to fans of electronic and prog. I really can't seem to find any fault from this album.