ET CETERA

Both the instrumental work and vocal arrangements bring GENTLE GIANT to mind in a huge way. The big difference of course is the French female vocals (there are male vocals too). As impressive as this band plays and sings they do not reach GG's level in either case in my opinion. Good album, but for me it's not worth 4 stars. Funny but right from the first listen I could not get into this. Well it has grown on me but it has stopped.

"La Musique Tourne" sounds great instrumentally, you'd swear it was a GENTLE GIANT tune. Not a big fan when she starts to sing as it calms down though.The contrasts continue. "Eclaircie" opens with some good guitar and bass as piano and drums join in followed by keys. Male and female vocals before 1 1/2 minutes sounding like GG. It settles a minute later. Synths 3 1/2 minutes in. "Entre Chien Et Loup" opens with classical guitar followed by flute then those GG-like dual vocals. I like how intricate this is instrumentally. Vibes in this one too. "Apostrophe" is laid back and a bit folksy with that acoustic guitar and flute. It picks up a minute in with synths. Nice electric guitar before 3 minutes. Piano 4 1/2 minutes in. Excellent track.

"Newton Avait Raison" opens with some synths, guitar and drums. The focus becomes on the vocals though eventually, although synths are prominant. Not a fan of this one. "L'Age Dort" is darker with some cello. Male vocals after a minute then flute comes in. Female vocals before 2 minutes. Themes are repeated. "Tandem" opens with piano as dual vocals come in. The tempo picks up before a minute. Organ before 3 minutes with guitar to follow as piano continues. It turns spacey late.

I can see why there are lots of 4 star ratings here, but it's not enjoyable enough for me to offer that up.

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