AVANTI!

Canadian act Miriodor, following their habit for grandiose music, have once again delivered a mesterful piece of contemporary progressive music: "Avanti!" is a manadatory member of my personal 2009's Top 5 , and indeed, it shows the band more focused on the greyish aspects of their nuclear R.I.O. framework. This might be the darkest Mirodor album so far! After some years playing as a six-pice that included wind and violin players, the band nowadays consists of the usual suspects Bernard Falaise (guitars, fretless bass, mandolin, banjo, keyboards), Pascal Globensky (keyboards, piano), Rémi Leclerc (drums, percussion) and Nicolas Masino (bass, piano, keyboards), with occasional guests on saxes and horns (including alumna Marie Chantal). 'Envoutement' opnes up the album with a slow display of sonic density in which the heavily psychedelic airs are dominated by the powerfully distorted bass lines. Once the track arrives at its second section, it shifts toward agile moods where the gentle use of dissonant developments pretty much sounds like a mixture of Gantle Giant, Maneige and Univers Zero. This sort of immense architectonical precision does not stop the piece from revealing candid airs here and there. 'Bolide Debile' follows up evolving on a solid jazzy cadence, which allows the band to capture extroverted moods - the closing guitar solo has to be one of the best tributes to Fred Frith ever (not that I'm implying that Falaise lacks any musical personality, which is clearly not the case). 'La Roche' tends to be more constrained, even sounding melancholic at times. The somewhat calm thyrhmic structure allows the track to persevere in its soft spirit, despite the momentary emergence of some Zappa-esque ornaments and the presence of some creepy moods in places. Once again, teh strong influence of Maneige and Gentle Giant has to be mentioned, plus some Canterbury-inspired elements (Hatfield & the North, National Health). 'À Déterminer', with its 10 ½ minute span, stands out as the longest piece in the album. This track bears a mixture of contrained energy and dense mistery, with an overall majestic wrapping that the band delivers in a very muscular fashion. The final section is playful, full of fancy through the display of elegant neurosis that had preceeded it consistently. The last two tracks complete the perfect climax for this album. The title track is very jazz-oriented, not unlike Sloche, with patent traces of King Crimson's archetypical madness and GG's colorful sophistication, as well as some impossible musical figures that bring Zappa to mind right away. The closing track 'Réveille- matin' is quite different, very evocative, even dreamy at times: its melodic core bears exotic nuances in a most exquisite way, managing to portray a robust ceremonious mood. "Avanti!", as a whole, is a demonstration of how vivid and strong the pattern of R.I.O. remains in the new millennium thanks to the intense creativity delivered by bands such as Miriodor.