CARAPACE ET CHAIR TENDRE

Sole album from yet another obscure Quebec folk prog group that was also released on Le Tamanoir as their predecessor prog folk groups Conventum and L'Engoulevant. Graced with a strange artwork (a rather sober gatefold) and an even stranger name, this album develops the now-usual prog folk that Quebec had gotten us used to by this time, and their music is a blend of Maneige, Conventum, but they have their own edge, most notably on the unusual trombone sounds as the chosen horn instrument.

A fugue-ish Hymne starts the album in a rather charming way and when the choir-like vocals enter, one wonders the why of the rare reviews written about their rough vocals. I certainly found absolutely nothing wrong with the accentless French vocals that Daniel Roussel graces half the tracks and the other three members: if not one of the main feature, the vocals are anything but very well-suited for their type of music. With the instrumental violin-dominated Marianne, the interplay with the flute and the other lead instruments is just perfect, occasionally frankly brilliant. The piano- dominated Jos Kebek has maybe the weaker vocal part in its start, but once the acoustic guitar picks-up relayed by an astonishing trombone, the tracks ends in apotheosis with some wordless singing which brings even more solemnity. The first side of the vinyl ends on a lovely instrumental where Joubert's violin hesitates between the viola and the fiddle and the second part of the track has an under-mixed sax (not credited).

Starting off very strongly with the beautiful lyrics La Fuite (ghastingly beautiful closing moments), the second side is much the same as its opposite. The trombone-dominated De Justesse is a head-twisting instrumental is followed by the album's centrepiece (IMHO) the reflective Grandir. A rather gentle instrumental evolving gradually in an all- out jig closes the album.

Yet another one of those Quebecois unearthed gems from the glorious late-70's just waiting to get a reissue and of course your discovery. Stuck somewhere between early Maneige and the folk rock of L'Engoulevent, progheads are more likely to enjoy Brèche and Maneige rather than the harder line (and more medieval) Conventum and the better known Beau Dommage.

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