82

A groove-based album from this highly productive French musician and composer. Although not all of his recordings have survived, this is still Sébastien Gramond's 82nd solo record. Unfortunately, when an artist releases that many albums over a relatively short amount of time, the change between albums and identity of each becomes much less apparent. '82' is another well-played instrumental album from this man, but like many of its kind, it does not feel as if Gramond put the thought into it that would have warranted multiple listens. Instead, Gramond here instead seems content to make a fairly harmless dose of groovy jazz that could work very well as the incidental soundtrack to a 1970s film, but as an listen of its own, '82' does not work too well.

'82' generally relies on Gramond's skill as a keyboardist, and most of the tracks feel as if they were largely improvised, rather than being an intentioned piece of music. 'Hair Waves' is a break from this monotonous composition through some very cool ideas and mood changes. Behind the keyboards are some drums (also played by Gramond) which are largely laid-back, but once again demonstrate that the man is an able multi-instrumentalist. Perhaps the greatest strength of '82' is its use of psychedelic effects on the keyboards; placing clever echoes on certain notes to give something of an otherworldly feel to what is otherwise somewhat mundane lounge music.

Gramond's '82' is another piece of chilled mood music, but especially due to the fact that the man has composed much better work than this in the past that accomplishes the same thing, it is rather difficult to recommend.