BEND THE FUTURE

BEND THE FUTURE avant-garde French group born in 2019, electro prog rock, jazzy, Balkan yes I confirm; at times heavy, at others soaring; protean, heady and innovative music; sound reminiscent of SEVEN IMPALE in groovy-jazzy rock; soul, psychedelic, electronic, krautrock even and progressive chamber for their 3rd opus, unclassifiable.

'Desert Eagle' starts groovy with a drums/sax duo from the Balkans then a fat synth at the bottom letting the thread of the air land delicately; guitar arpeggio and airy vocals then a magical fluid melodic line and a final heavy sax, everything but well done and which moves directly away from conventional rock. "Jemlemat'r" hypnotic and spatial, electronic, inventive, a gripping, bewitching sound, metronomic half jazzy, half festive, half new wave that's 33% that; the hovering side becomes haunting, atmospheric, on a MASSIVE ATTACK, an EZ3KIEL with an intoxicating sympho rise. 'Fall Apart' arises and changes tune; dark, a disturbing, sinuous, electro groove before leaving the jazzy evolution to the sax; a new sound that goes far from the prog but which keeps its soul with changes of tempo; melodic with these string instruments. "Somewhere Beneath" continues with this time the dark bass arpeggio and the fruity keyboard, the guitar on Andalusian rock, on reverie, memory of KUSTURICA at times with the hypnotic sax; the crystalline and heady piano in an adrenalytic crescendo, the notes torn from the instruments sound the charge of a frenzied zappatesque chase. 'Vaste' reverts to a calmer sound; voices in chorus like serenades, rather magmaian instruments; yet another haunting mantra musical score, closer to Andalusian chamber music than a progressive tune, closer to a cobra dance than any rock tune; mounted again with a frenzied piano and an unbridled sax asking only to scream. 'Miniature II' as an answer to the Miniature of 'Without Notice' for a rhythmic interlude of two repeated chords, repeated like a trance; a moment when the jazz-prog aspect takes on its full meaning here. 'Those Small Things' starts with crystalline, ethereal electronic sounds made of reverberation like drops of water falling from a waterfall; the quartet then takes the stage to combine everything, surprisingly. 'Not Even' between the two, redundant, repetitive guitar harmony that flows into a bottomless pit; New contemplative tune that combines rock groove with idyllic atmosphere, an ambient cinematic interlude well accompanied by drums. 'Now Is the Moment' for the album error, sung and breaking the air; yet the electro synth allying with the sax puts you in a trance and the guitar amplifies the groovy electric, funky, jazzy and basic rock sound; good the voice leaves the angelic notes of a choir and the digression, the progression comes just before mid-course; a pin-pon sax arrives to put you back in a trance on the Balkans and it becomes singular and pleasant to listen to.

BEND THE FUTURE is strong; a sound from elsewhere, not rock though, jazzy but not everything; ambient yes but; oriental yes but not only; festive and circus yes too; the motor on the drums which breathes the rhythm and lets guitar and string instruments intoxicate us with complex sounds, far from rock but devilishly playful, modern and fluid, a musical slap that borders on OMNIesque, inventive and unequaled, a major jazz-rock fusion.

A neat album, a lot of room for improvement though for me.

I find the guitar bits to be done very well along with the saxophone. On the other hand the vocals are weak, reminding me of the male singer from Mirage and the bass is not prominent enough. Something I appreciate about this album is that the guitar is not used as a lead instrument but as accompaniment and the instrumentals don't really put an instrument at the front where they proceed to tear it up. An instrument I rarely mention, drums are very present throughout the album, whether that's using the full kit or just a bit of cymbals/hi hats.

Overall I think some of the other parts of the band aside from the guitar/saxophone bring down the music as a whole. I realized this as the moments where I found myself enjoying the music where largely when it was not quite a full band affair. Additionally the music rarely picks up, staying very chill and static.

A French group that leaves a pearl, it should be noted! A group created to make people love the prog of the ancients and even older jazz, a group created recently which denotes by its incisive cover, go I'm going! A group that goes directly to jazzy regions with sax, do you want some, and that allows itself to add electric touches, ambient limit; it's BEND THE FUTURE to serve you.

Note a fusion of genres scratching on those of the 70's and complementing them admirably with the recent fruity sound, jazzy touches that seem in fact to integrate naturally into the melodic lines of the different titles, in short an innovative, creative, singular musical osmosis for not to say staggering, which further pushes away the concepts of progressive rock.

They can be sure, this album won't be without notice. Founded in 2019 BEND THE FUTURE is a relatively new band from Grenoble, France. That five-piece combo is delivering sophisticated music, featuring vocals and a strong jazzy orientation. I would say especially piano (Samy Chëbre) and saxophone (Pierre-Jean Ménabé) are making the difference here, just to underline that. Now they obviously are aiming higher. This sophomore album 'Without Notice' was released on the German Tonzonen Records label, and is directing them into the prog heaven at the latest. Not only due to that hilarious cover image, brilliant idea. Seven songs were chosen, vinyl length formatted in sum. I would say the album highlight marks the lively and dynamic opener Lost In Time, a masterpiece, really love this one!

They have selected an intriguing main motif, led by a repetitive piano line, also equipped with expressive guitar playing and some ethno world flair. Wonderful! The smooth As We Parry then delivers a more relaxed counterpart. The saxophone is very present. Merely strikes due to Piel Pawlowski's very busy drum playing. We Aim Higher lives from diverse edges, several ups and downs, partially relaxing, partially engaged, the groove is omnipresent anyway. Both the sensitive Miniature and Mus are growing with every listen. 'Without Notice' is a very fine joint effort. Compositions are on a high level and the musicianship is priceless anyway. High grades for this excellent art and jazz rock hybrid.