COSMIC LINE WAYFARING

Hearing this after the highly disappointing album 'Words & Music For Supermarket Elevators', it seemed that the only way for Sébastien Gramond to go was up. Certainly a great improvement from the previous available album from this multi-instrumentalist and composer, Gramond manages to fit quite a few genres and sounds into this longer album. While this album feels quite ambitious in its scope and variety however, it feels far too scattered, instead favouring a sheer quantity of musical ideas, over a few less that would be better developed and fleshed out. Ranging from psychedelic rock to rockabilly, one can be sure to have a rocky ride with 'Cosmic Line Wayfaring'.

Beginning with a title track split into six sections (the first four parts making up the start of the album), the listener is made very aware that he is listening to something that had sprouted out of a highly electronic phase for Gramond. Experimenting with different keyboard sounds, the title track certainly doesn't get the feeling across of being an 'epic suite' by any measure, but instead feels like an ambient space experiment, which can be quite interesting or deathly boring, depending on one's own take on the style.

While an artist's variety is generally a positive trait, it can get to the point where it overwhelms the listener and kills the cohesion that a truly great album has. With 'Cosmic Line Wayfaring', there are good ideas here, but it feels as if we are listening to a compilation of four or five very different albums thrown into a space-electronic ordeal. At first, I was intrigued by the erratic changes in flow and sound, but it got to the point where I would have much rather heard one or two styles that had been given the proper time to really develop in the album and grow.

The most memorable tracks here include the rockabilly number 'Dark Thoughts About Her' and the chaotic space electronic track 'Atomic Star'. 'Cosmic Line Wayfaring' reflects heavily on space-electronic music, but unfortunately, few of the ideas really manage to flourish in what are generally two or three minute long sound experiments. Another album of space music would be welcome from Gramond, but a greater sense of cohesion would be needed for it to be considered a success.