MOSAÏQUE

I managed to get my hands on both Arrakeen releases from the early nineties and I'm very happy about that because it was a long search. And I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on this experience. Of the long list of neobands I'm checking out this year Arrakeen has proved to be a must have . Mosaïque is the successor of their debut Patchwork and despite the fact their music is pretty accessible I had to play the disc quite a few times to get into the individual songs.

Star of the band is Maïko, an excellent female vocalist. I did a google search lately because I could hardly understand a woman with these qualities would do just two albums with this band and then nothing anymore. But I couldn't find anything really unless of course I didn't dig deep enough. Maïko is the dominant factor of Arrakeen and that's a big achievement since all members of the band are very capable on their instruments.

Also the songs are very worth while, there are hardly fillers on this album. On the other hand there are no real highlights either which means a very equable performance and it has the advantage you can play the album without skipping songs. If I do have to name two stand out tracks it's the title track and the longest on the album, Rages.

I hardly can believe this band quit after this album and I really regret this too. I believe they could have had a shining future, at least where their potential is concerned. Maybe they called it a day at their highlight, we'll never know. This album is recommended to those who like cristal clear female vocals, very capable musicians playing excellent songs. I don't really know who to compare them with. It's true neo prog no doubt but it's certainly not a clone of any band. Four stars easily for Mosaïque