DELUSION SQUARED

Take Porcupine Tree's spacey elements as a base, augment them with a strong reliance upon clean acoustic guitar and then bind them all together with compellingly beautiful female vocals and you have a decent idea where new neo-proggers Delusion Squared are coming from sonically.

I certainly understand why the band selected "The Very Day" to lead off their debut album. It is everything a newcomer's prog debut song should be: clever, catchy, witty, yet imbued with just enough instrumental complexity to hold even a veteran progger's interest. From there, however, I have the distinct feeling that Delusion Squared "held back" their very best material until last, for it is during the final trio of atmospheric, beautiful and compelling songs "What We Will Be", "The Departure" and "A Creation Myth" that they soar to their greatest heights, indelibly carving out such an infectious and unforgettable sonic presence that I find myself involuntarily, almost instinctively scrambling for the "replay" button each time the album draws to a close.

Although Delusion Squared takes us on a nicely varied journey through songs that rock far harder (Copyrighted Genes) and are more progressive (Sentenced), in the end it turns out that Delusion Squared is most convincing when they are slightly spacey, symphonic and atmospheric, yet with instrumentation sparse enough to allow the spotlight to shine brightly upon the lush, slightly vulnerable, idealistic vocals of Lorraine Young. Ms. Young's voice is endearing, her affectation guileless, and her timbre disarmingly coy. So much so, that even during the end of the song "In My Time of Dying" as she scolds environmental predators with the line "If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it", I can't help but envision corporate fat cats who are less likely to become truly offended than to oddly discover themselves tempted to pat her on the head while saying something totally inappropriate like "You know... Loraine, you really are cute when you're angry..."

I can think of worse strategies than starting with something catchy to grab the listener's attention and ending most excellently, leaving them wanting more. Even so, there is a danger that some impatient proggers and reviewers could lose interest (or form intractible impressions) before they even reach the album's strongest material. Don't let yourself make that mistake! Before allowing yourself to solidify an opinion of this album, fast-forward to tracks 9, 10 and 11. Let them fully sink in. Then proceed to enjoy track 1. (Once you are duly persuaded, a few of the other songs will soon enough find their way into your heart I'm sure...)

This debut album is a collection of intelligent, impeccably produced neo-progressive rock songs graced by a lush new female vocalist simultaneously confident and vulnerable. For my money, Lorraine Young is by far the most compelling female vocalist to emerge on the neo-progressive rock scene of 2010.

Although the instrumental performances are very good, hardcore progrockers seeking jaw- dropping displays of excellent musicianship may consider this album a little "light" on strictly prog-terms. Delusion Squred's debut album, however, is highly recommended as an excellent addition to any neo-prog or melodic song-based progressive rock music collection.

Learn more and pick up your own copy of this impressive debut album at: delusionsquared dot com.

The French trio DELUSION SQUARED was formed in 2009, and so far has preferred to keep a low profile as far as any further background goes. The band issued their self-titled debut effort in the fall of 2010, and as many artists opt to do these days, they released the CD themselves.

I have encountered quite a few debut efforts from 2010 so far, with more to come. Delusion Squared is most certainly among the most interesting ones so far, and is a band with an album that warrants a check by those who like their art rock contemporary and diversified. While different in scope and expression, at least to some extent, I'd suggest that those with a soft spot for artists such as Porcupine Tree might fancy spending some time getting more familiar with this album, and much the same can be said for fans of bands like Riverside as well as neo outfits like IQ and Believe.

This is an album of nice music, and nice melodies, but poor, even amatuerish mixing, engineering and production. At times it sounds as if the guitar effects have been created with the cheapest effects pedals (especially the distortion, e.g. on "the Very Day" and "Rebirth"), and the mix often sounds first-time home studio-ish. Also, the music and vocal moods often sound very out of sync with one another--as if they were perfoming two different songs (e.g. "The Very Day," "The Betrayal," and "By the Lake (Seeding)"). This band needs time to gel, get seasoned, learn better mixing and engineering skills. Most of the music is nice though rather uncomplicated. Some times reminded of PF or PT ("Copyrighted Genes") others like MAGENTA and CHROMA KEY. Vocal talents are reminiscent of BJORK, EDIE BRICKELL, and DIDO (best on "Rebirth"). "What Will Be" is a pretty awesome song. Definitely a band to watch as they develop and grow.

Things rolled quite fast for Delusion Squared, a French trio found in 2009 by multi-instrumentalists Steven Francis and Emmanuel de Saint Meen and female singer/acoustic guitarist Lorraine Young, determined to make an impact in the prog world.In September 2010 the group launched a self-titled debut CD, released as a private self-production.It unfolds around a concept story about a young woman, living in a post-nuclear technological world, where she decided to give birth to her baby naturally, disregarding the current gene rules and at the end found guilty of gene piracy.

Musically the album is divided into four sections, strictly connected to the concept story, where the modern approach of Delusion Squared changes between smoother and heavier moments, depending on the needed mood and flirting with the likes of PORCUPINE TREE, IOEARTH or FREQUENCY DRIFT.The first two sections of the album seem to be the more balanced and pleasant.The tracks have a great atmosphere, based on Lorraine Young sensitive vocals and the compositions are well-crafted with very good rhythmic electric guitars, a fair dose of acoustic passages, while the slight guitar distortions and the use of electronics and synthesizers make the sound richer and even more attractive.The closing two sections are significantly softer, obviously inspired by the storyline of the concept, but get dangerously calm compated to the first half of the album.These tracks recall the most mellow moments of KARNATAKA or PAATOS, sounding more melodic, but lacking the great energy of the opening ones.Too much acoustic material and too much piano with very limited electric moments, but they still sound pleasant with some fantastic instrumental parts contained.

Delusion Squared's debut leaves great promises for the future.A talented modern Prog trio with interesting ideas, both regarding their music and their concept stories, in need of finding a slightly more balanced sound.Warmly recommended.