TRISKAIDEKAPHOBIE

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Or The Fear Of Number 13, most likely a reference to Trigaux's old group Univers Zero's debut album called 1313. Actually Present started as an offshoot project of Univers Zero with both Roger Trigaux and Daniel Denis, but Trigaux was not to return to back to the mother group. The vast majority of the album is written by Roger Trigaux (who oscillates constantly between the piano to a searing guitar) and therefore one should not really expect the same kind of music than on a UZ album.

Just three tracks on this album, one of which is simply the most representative track of Present's Oeuvre: the side-long 19 min+ Promenade Au Fond D'Un Canal. With an incredibly ever changing rhythm pattern but constantly sinister and metronomic-quality (almost repetitive to be minimalist, but this would be misleading) groove and helped out tremendously by Rochette's piano, this track is riveting, tense from beginning to end. The 15 min+ Quatre-vingt Douze is based much on the same pattern but reminds you of John Cale and Terry Riley's superb album Church Of Anthrax. Last but not least is a short Repulsion (a collaboration between Trigaux, Denis and bassist Genet) that has problems finding its place next to the other two "epics", but is highly atmospheric.

Certainly one of the darkest Oeuvre written back then, there are not that many albums that have topped it in that regard, since. I cannot easily recommend this album to everybody, because this dark sinister music is not easily approachable (and not suited to getting romantic with the girlfriend unless she enjoys doing it in a coffin ;-) and is at best an acquired taste. But if you are reading this review, one can say that ¼ of the way is done

Quite appropriate that PRESENT's first album would be called "Triskaidekaphobie"(fear of the number 13),as Sean Trane points out it's sort of a nod to UNIVERS ZERO who's debut was called "1313".Three of the four members of PRESENT are from UNIVERS ZERO including their leader, drummer and percussionist Daniel Denis.While Daniel and bass player Christian Genet would go back to UNIVERS ZERO,Roger Trigaux wouldn't,their former guitarist would continue with PRESENT as it's leader.The music here is similar in style to UNIVERS ZERO without the classical instruments, and with more of a focus on the guitar and piano.Only three songs make up the band's debut album. We begin with my favourite song on the album "Promenade Au Fond D'Un Canal" a 19 minute classic.It opens with piano and percussion and is dark and reserved.It kicks in at the 2 minute mark with piano,drums,guitar,bass and percussion.It sounds great!It slows back down 4 minutes in but still has that incredible sound.Scorching guitar 7 minutes in,and the bass that comes and goes is prominant.It all stops before 10 minutes except for the piano.Percussion and guitar join in before a heavy beat arrives.The piano becomes very prominant again.15 minutes in the guitar starts to slowly rip it up, until that's all you hear right to the end of the song.Nice. "Quatre-Vingt Douze" is another long track at over 15 minutes.A fairly energetic intro is replaced by gentle piano.It becomes uptempo again 2 1/2 minutes in with percussion and piano leadng the way.It calms down again 6 1/2 minutes in with gentle piano as this theme is repeated.The song stops 10 1/2 minutes in and returns slower and darker with eerie piano melodies.The pace picks up 14 minutes with some great bass as the mood brightens."Repulsion" is the final track and is very repetitive with a piano note being methodically pressed every 3 seconds while percussion is used in the same way.The sound slowly increases. Like with the music of UNIVERS ZERO this album is not for everyone.If you like that style though, you have to check this one out.

Present was the brainchild of Univers Zero guitarist Roger Trigaux, showing his compositional skills outside that band teamed up with UZ drummer Daniel Denis, bassist Christian Genet and the relatively unknown Alain Rochette on the keyboards. Trigaux's ideas for Present notably shows the differences from his work with UZ with a more repetitive and hypnotic approach to the music, but while still being dark and gloomy - sometimes even scary. Triskaidekaphobie was their debut album and proves these facts spot on, and remains one of my most favoured RIO recordings to be released at that time. The music is dark and atmospheric, hypnotic and repetitive, but never boring to the listener. Another difference between UZ and Present is that this album moves away from the chamber influences and uses electric instruments instead, but the material here is no less interesting and it is in fact very reminiscent of UZ's 80's albums stylistically. The opening cut, "Promenade au fond D'un Canal", is the best piece here and sets the album mood perfectly with it's gloomy opening before turning into frantic and challenging Avant-Prog delights until it finally slips into darkness and goes through a multiple of sections before returning to it's opening theme promoted with a blistering and intense guitar solo by Trigaux. It's a composition that has to be heard to appreciate properly but it's definitely one of the genres finest songs. The next cut, titled Quatre-Vingt Douze, is more varied and goes through even more sections, although it's more on the minimalist side of the album at times. Again, it displays blistering complexity both in terms of musicianship and compositionally seen, although it's not as strong as the opening cut. Not easy listening by any means, but along with the previous cut it have a lot to offer and stands out as perhaps the most interesting part of the album.

The final piece is a very gloomy and dark closer that gives the listener a chance to chill, but with goosebumps and a chance to think what the hell he just went through the last 35 minutes. Again a very odd track, but still it might be the most normal piece here. Throughout the album, the musicians provide some excellent playing. Daniel Denis in particular does some really creative drumming on all tracks and spices the arrangements up even further. His unique style displayed with both Present and UZ definitely makes him one of my most preferred drummers in rock. Christian Genet's bass playing isn't as notable but he backs up the music very well and provides excellent techniques when required. As with his bandmates, he is a very unique player that suits this band perfectly. Alain Rochette takes the main role in most of the songs with his sharp and precise playing on the keyboards and he easily manages to boost Trigaux's arrangements up a few notches, making the songs more clear and understandable. Trigaux himself textures the music with long, soaring guitar notes for most of the time, but backs up the rest of the band excellently when needed. All in all, the playing from the band and compositions featured here is nothing but admirable, and it all works extremely well. This is not easy listening by any means, but surely a must have if you like this kind of music. You might look on it as a masterpiece, or maybe not, but I think this album is the best in Present's discography. Their next album is no worse so check out that one as well, in fact Cuneiform Records released both of them on one CD in the late 80's so pick it up if you are interested. A complete meltdown of wonderful insane, beyond brilliant stuff! 5/5

Let me first of all add that I am not an avant-garde expert. I have never heard anything by Univers Zero either. But most importantly, I am not even a nuclear fission engineer. This is a review written by a humble IT guru and an open minded soul. For the experts, see the other reviews.

This is Present's debut album and contains two big pieces and a shorter track. The two big pieces clocks in at just below twenty minutes each. They are based on some medium complex rhythm patterns produced by bass, drums and most importantly; piano. The piano is both used as the second bass in this music ensemble and as a melody texture creator. Some of it atonal as in zeuhl. The solos is mainly done by the electric guitars......... and we are not talking Apache by The Shadows here. The guitars are distorted and sometimes atonal.

The music........ The opener Promenade Au Fond D'un Canal is a bit hesitant before it ends up in a claustrophobic duel between repetitive pianos and discorded electric guitars. A very good tune. The second track Quatre-vingt Douze is much more open which some times also closes in on claustrophobia. It also have a good jazz and zeuhl feel waking over it's eighteen minutes. The final song Repulsion is more an epitaph than a piece of music.

Although this album has it's great moments, I am too hesitant to call it a great album. There is too much which does not work here. Half of the two long tracks, to be precise. The final song does not work too well either. But it is still an album well worth checking out. It is a good album and I am eager to explore the rest of Present's albums.

3 stars