AU CRÉPUSCULE DU TEMPS

RARA AVIS IN TERRIS has a relatively short history. Rather unknown in the worldwide progressive rock realm they existed from 1997 to 2001. The band operated with two guitarists and produced this album for the Italian label Mellow Records. Although musically and technically skilled some deficits in promotion coupled with the lack of money made it really difficult for them to become more famous outside of France. So most of their live performances took place in the north west area of their country showing them as a 70's prog rock outfit.

'Au Crépuscule Du Temps' holds songs which are mainly mellow relaxed and psych/space tinged - clearly influenced by Pink Floyd. Some unique aspects of their music are vocals in French and the extensive use of a saxophone. Corresponding to the title Ocean it all starts with the sound of the sea where soon the instruments come in to start something spacey chilling provided with a jamming character. Then you will detect some mysteriously sawing synths and the song gradually evolves and gathers speed by and by. Finally the outro is presenting a relaxed rhythm section again - well done!

Nearly every song is made up with saxophone attendance - to name Kaléidoscope which is another example for the band's spacey vibe. Excellent guitar work here coupled with interesting synthesizer contributions. With The New Millenium they now leave the common path. This is a solid dual guitar dominated heavy rocking song - this time with English vocals - as for their live performances a mover I'm quite sure. The title track finally is designed to be the core I assume - an epic suite of nearly 30 minutes devided in five sections. It keeps some nice moments but can't maintain the magic of the predecessor songs - just if the ideas were run out a little bit.

The opening part La Naissance (Ouverture) sounds close to 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' and the grooving L'Apotheose especially meets my taste - this time they are adding a flute instead of the usual saxophone. L'Apocalypse starts with fine percussion work and then changes to a heavy rocking behaviour. The song is interrupted with complete silence several times and every new start sounds in another way like coming from different improvisation sessions.

'Au Crépuscule Du Temps' is worthy to explore - a solid and enjoyable album filled with 60 minutes of retro styled music inspired by Pink Floyd and additionally spiked with some heavier excursions here and there.

RARA AVIS IN TERRIS were a French short-lived, one-off project around 2000. Regardless of their obscurity, their only one creation "Au Crépuscule Du Temps" is filled with their original stylish and eclectic taste like the newest fashion of French mademoiselles based upon heavy, bluesy psychedelic rock leaning toward middle / late 60s rock scene. Sounds like they'd got remarkably influenced by Pink Floyd but they might have digested deeply avantgarde / jazzy essence like Magma or Area, I guess. Various approaches and appearances can be heard via this brilliant "dusky soundscape". For grabbing this mysterious versatile texture, we should listen to the first four tracks, especially the two "Océan" and "Kaléidoscope". The opening track "Océan" has two appearances - the former part is a mellow space rock in the same vein of Pink Floyd, and the latter is a heavy prog created mainly with the key instrument "deep saxophone" played by Julien. "Kaléidoscope" is one of psychedelic masterpieces we can say - as the title says, this stuff gets completely veiled with kaleidoscopic sound creatures including heavy rock, jazz, avantgarde, and of course psychedelic / space rock.

On the contrary, "Au Crépuscule Du Temps Suite" can be thought as their interpretation of Pink Floyd, especially Roger's era. The first piece "La Naissance - Ouverture" reminds us something like the opening of Floyd's Crazy Diamonds. After such a dreamy moment, we can enjoy a decent space rock subtitled "La Genese" featuring melancholic saxophone vividness, flooded with their own flavour. Another psychedelic symphony can be touched via the following part "La Conciliation", along with bluesy guitar sounds and persistent, heavy riffs. Although "L'Apotheose" is a short tip, we can hear magnificent eccentricity seasoned with crazy flute blows via this piece. As if it be blowing a killer gale beside us, cool and clean air we can feel at this moment. The last part "L'Apocalypse", across some pieces of hibernation, consists of various elements like heavy, jazz, space, avantgarde ... they wanted to shout this stuff was a compilation of all of their creation.

In conclusion, "Au Crépuscule Du Temps" can be called not only as psychedelic progressive but also an eclectic obscure gem like a glass of premium French Red Wine with deep, woody, estery flavour. Splendid one.

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.