SÉBASTIEN GRAMOND'S ONE MAN SHOW

After a space rock record and a subsequent dabble in jazz fusion, musical renaissance man Sébastien Gramond returns with his 'One Man Show', an album that builds on the style of progressive rock Gramond first started working with on 'Peli Mell'. While the music and sound here is very similar to the record before, 'One Man Show' can be considered an improvement through it's improved cohesion and consistency, although it lacks the naive charm that the debut 'Trip' had.

Returning is the guitar driven fusion of progressive rock, blues and instrumental jazz. 'Sébastien Gramond's One Man Show' is one part fueled by Gramond's skillful guitar playing, and another part led on by his vocals, which while still generally weak and- at times- downright unpleasant to listen to, witness a marked improvement this time around. The album opens up with 'Hello, Nice Guys' a blues rock number with some great guitar grooves going on, that manages to be technical, yet concise as a song at the same time. This greater concentration on a more classic rock sound does work well to show Gramond's guitar skills, but the jazzier work Gramond has done in the past is a more balanced and rewarding listen. 'Wild' even goes as far as to tread into 1950's rockabilly, which again sports great guitar work, but still feels a bit bare everywhere as a recording. Follow that with an album that sounds like it came out of a hard rock carnival, and one might get the idea that 'One Man Show' is a fairly varied album, and it is.

Once again, the vocals do prove to be a problem for 'One Man Show' as they have been in the past, but Sébastien Gramond is certainly improving, his lower range occasionally shows some strength. However, serious issues still arise when Gramond attempts to use a falsetto range, which sounds very poor and unfitting of the good musicianship the rest of the album sports.

'Sébastien Gramond's One Man Show' is certainly the most unpredictable album yet by this promising French artist, but as a result, it also feels too scattered to significantly succeed as an album, despite generally strong composition and instrumental performance.