MUNDI DOMINI

Born in 1997, this sextet from the heart of Quebec, the borough of Limoilou, was formed by six young musicians of the Jean-de-Brebeuf Music School, namely Melanie Caron, Odrre Couture-Bedard, Rae Couture, Stephane Doyon, Sean Lonergan and Annabel Pompilio, most of who were multi-instrumentalists and contributed on vocals as well.After winning a school contest they were invited in several national festivals and in 2001 they were given the chance to record an album under the support of DiArt Productions.The self-titled debut of the band came out the following year.

These kids could really play, even if their style was basically structured on acoustic instruments with bass and drums being the only evident links with Rock Music.They did want to continue the endless, historic line of Folk-tinged Canadian Prog bands and they did it pretty well on this album, which contains strong MANEIGE and HARMONIUM influences, although Mundi Domini lack the complexity of the first and the strong, symphonic tunes of the later.But their music was actually a mix of Chamber Rock with Folk, led by ethereal acoustic crescendos and light interplays.The piano lines of Sean Lonergan and Melanie Caron appear to be the leading force of the album, over which the musicians built a unique atmosphere full of nostalgic accordions, mellow flute solos and dreamy acoustic guitars.The vocals are sporadic, sometimes offered in a chant-like mood or bursting often a theatrical color, and good thing is that the album contains extended, instrumental themes with lovely interactions and cool, folky overtones.There is a great balance between Classical references and more traditional Quebec Folk and the abscence of electric explosions is far from disturbing, the solid background of the six musicians eventually created a nice and dreamy Prog Folk journey.

Info says that Mundi Domini toured for about two years after the release of their sole effort, but no further activities were reported.Couture-Bedard appears to have continued its stint in Chamber-influenced Music in a professional level.

Nostalgic, well-arranged and pastoral Canadian Prog Folk, which gets even more surprising considering the age of the involved musicians.Warmly recommended.