DA BEP LEC'H

After the second release, Jaz took 6 years to publish a follow-up. During that period he continued to make music, and this album is a sort of collection of what he did between 1998 and 2002, when this album was released.

Da Bep Lec'h means "to all the directions" in Breton language. You can see it on the roads in Bretagne. Searching for "Rün", it should mean "hill". This first track is a very light electronic tune based on major chords and suddenly ending on drone percussion. Just an intro, then it comes "Hydrogen". It's another quiet track with a newage flavor. As in the first two albums of Mr Corvisier, this music would be suitable as soundtrack for a discovery channel documentary. I imagine it commenting seascape, corals , seafood, and so on.

Things start to become more interesting with the third track "Synkronization" which lasts for over 10 minutes. I've had a quick chat with the artist and he mentioned CAMEL as influencer. Listening carefully, a touch of Camel can be perceived, also not too far from the style of BELLAPHON, a Japanese band clearly inspired to Camel. During those 10 minutes the melody changes several times but smoothly, with continuity.

"Shadow Bride" is an interesting one: slow tempo and minor chords which trigger a switch in my mind. It's a lifetime that I don't listen to the Greek newage keyboardist YANNI. This track has something that brings my memory back, even if the style is closer to the other Greek maestro, VANGELIS. In particular the period of "The City" and "Direct".

"MIdnight" is different. I don't like much the organ vibrato, but when it stops and the bass introduces a different line, we are back to the Camel style. 2002 is the year when Peter BARDENS passed away. Thos track could have found a place on his "SEEN ONE EARTH". As I have written on other reviews, when commenting instrumental music, the best I can do is comparing it to something else. So I'm not saying that it's a clone, as well as Vangelis is not a clone of Tangerine Dream and vice versa.

Let's go ahead. The title track is another "long" one. Calling long a 10 minutes track on a progressive rock site may sound unusual, but it's the longest of the album. The initial theme is a little dissonant, then it becomes more regular. This is more or less how the electronic music was sounding around the end of the 90s and the beginning of the new Millennium (hey, are we already close to the '20s...I can't believe it...), so having to provide a reference I'd say that it's more or less the kind of things that TANGERINE DREAM were doing in these years.

"Air" closes the album. Lazy tempo, minor chords, a little dissonance mainly due to the organ sound chosen for the main melody. It doesn't progress much, but in the last minute it changes direction. It sounds like a MIDI, and makes me think to the soundtrack of a videogame ("Another Code" to name it).

So it's another light and enjoyable album, far from being a masterpiece or a must, but it hasn't anything bad and because of its suitability to soundtracks it can be a very good background listening if you are reading, studying , working and so on.