AU-DELÀ DU DÉLIRE

Although my French isn't quite up to following what Ange singing about, there's no denying that the vocals are absolutely key to this album . With the band deploying a wide range of background instrumentation, with a style ranging from near-classical to spacey interludes to acoustic ballads to brooding rock, the singing and narration is what ties it all together. Even if you aren't a French speaker, you can't resist being moved by the emotional crescendos delivered in tracks such as Les Longues Nuits d'Isaac.

This album is often compared to Genesis - usually because of the theatricality involved, but musically speaking there's more than a few connections, not least in the keyboard work of the Decamps and in particular the juxtaposing of acoustic guitar and mellotron, a combination which perhaps finds its peak on Exode (which also sees a switch to engaging electric guitar towards the end of the track).