STRANGE

Did you ever get an album that sounds nothing like you thought it would even after reading several reviews on it before hand ? Well for me this certainly is one of those records. Listed under Jazz / Rock / Fusion and getting plenty of high ratings I couldn't wait to get this recording. I almost did a double take when I started to listen to it the first time, and as the album played on it was clear in my world that this has nothing to do with Jazz, Rock or Fusion (haha). Maybe World Music but we don't have that category here so...maybe this is the best place for it. I have listened to this much more often than I usually would before a review simply because Julian sent me this cd and I did want to like it. This just isn't a style of music i'm into at all. Lots of strings and percussion sounds dominate. This has two violinists, a violincelloist, along with sitar, guitar, djembe, tablas and more. Julian does the keyboards and programming.

"Leh" along with "Plante" are the two tracks i do enjoy. This opener features lots of strings and percussion. Get used to it. "Cirque" has these intricate sounds and a circus-like rhythm. "Charlotte" is one i'm not a fan of at all. It sounds like toy keyboards until a change almost 2 minutes in when the strings come to the fore. "What's Democratie ?" opens with percussion then piano and vocal expressions come in. Catchy stuff as these sounds come and go. "Tinananana" has more female vocal melodies, percussion and intricate sounds. "Le Caquou" opens with what sounds like crickets. A collage of intricate and exotic sounds take over. The crickets are back to end it.

"Sophie" has a cool intro then a beat takes over with what sounds like flute helping out. "Cosmos" is percussion and keyboard led. I think. It's spacey late. "Plante" sounds excellent once it kicks in. Sounds like electric piano too. "Strange" is very oriental sounding. In fact yesterday a customer called and i had to go in the back where the speakers are and I knew he would hear the music pretty clearly. Anyway he says "Your listening to oriental music eh? " So i explained the situation to him. "Noturne Indien" features lots of strings and percussion. "Untitled" ends it with an oriental vibe. Not a fan of this one.

Clearly there are people on this site who really like this album so check it out.