Ph2 for Symphonic prog

Ph2 was created in 1988 by two Philippe (hence, Ph2!): Philippe Mercier (drums, percussions) and Philippe Moati (guitars, bass, and keyboards). They met at school in the Paris area, when they were 14. They were part of two bands, Equinox, and then Jouvence, which recorded a single and gave numerous concerts. From the beginning, they played progressive rock, highly influenced by the prog of that time: Genesis, Yes, Van der Graff Generator, Kansas, Mike Oldfield, Peter Gabriel and so on. As their music becomes more complex, they felt limited by the band configuration and decided to exploit the rich potentialities of the work in studio. They have been reached by new influences, both from the classical music of the first half of the 20th century (Prokofiev, Chostakovitch, Stravinsky, Ravel…) and from the new generation of Prog bands (Flower Kings, Kaïpa, Ritual, Karmakanics…).

Ph2 recorded 5 albums: Portraits de famille (1996), Une vie (2002), Empreintes (2011) , 20 years after (2016) and Season 5 (2021). Philippe Moati wrote most of the tracks, some of them following the principle of automatic writing (the basic line results from an improvisation over which the orchestration is built). The first and the second album were entirely instrumental. There are several sung tracks  thanks to the guest performances by various artists. The music of Ph2 intends to be original, versatile and expressive.

Link to Season 5 on Spotify : http://https://open.spotify.com/album/1E3oXkB3He6BrsxsODYwEV?si=wTB5YE87T6uHfZ65l_Uteg