VOODOOLAND

CIRKUS is a Progressive Symphonic music group from Quebec City of Trois-Rivières in Canada, and has just released their second album, "Voodooland". After a rather successful first outing in 2017 with Wild Dogs, here is a galette that promises us some good surprises to be enjoyed without moderation. At the head of this strange and magical land we have the multi-instrumentalist and arranger composer ALAIN PROULX. This quartet delivers us here theatrical or even cinematographic scores, and I would even go to the limit towards expressionist music ... because this work often presents a high level of dissonance, dynamic contrasts, constant changes of textures, distorted melodies and harmonies, and fear as the main subject. We talk about redemption, the world going in error, empires built like sand castles etc ... This tone will be given and evoked like a spell throughout the duration of the album. The palette of influences is quite large in this cursed place, with a wide range that goes from BAUHAUS to PETER HAMILL for vocals to GENESIS and YES for musical structures. "How to Kill" begins with a slow and theatrical voice whose tremolos and lyrics we assess the gravity of the situation. The song is punctuated by a regular tempo, accompanied by a bouncy organ and past fashion which stops in front of an electric guitar playing harpeggios with silky textures and jubilant harmonies. The orchestration is symphonized and the voices harmonize to lead to an intense and structurally elaborate final, but ceaselessly alarmist. "Sidewalk Steam" can be split into three parts in different genres and styles. Indeed this piece begins with a nervous piano revolving around a guitar of good quality, then relayed by a faltering and excessively sluggish voice, combining with acoustics with the tones of YES from the best period. The second part seems turned towards songs deliberately degenerate even dissonant but well controlled, typically Post-Punk in the manner of JOY DIVISION or even TELEVISION. The contrast between the rendering of voices and the musical architecture of Prog is really striking here. This piece ends with a well-composed, calm and pleasant synth / piano duo whose elegance will make us think of GENESIS. "Arrival" is a clever mix of festive songs, choirs sounding like chimes, dismal voices at the breaking point in a style that can be confused with Punk / post Punk wanderings, but paradoxically well brought and coherent, with a passage intermediary which makes us glimpse a MORRISSEY in great shape, but also Indian songs well cadenced and successful. This delirious patchwork interspersed with high-level musical passages makes this piece unique and particularly brilliant. "Blind Parade" takes up the same vocal specificities with a more joyful refrain resembling a hymn dedicated to the blind that we are ... This melody evolves with drum rolls and a fiery and luminous guitar, then becomes again mysterious to end with a lament vindictive and repetitive. With "Sandcastle" how not to think of PETER HAMMILL, this genius with a voice so expressive and overflowing with emotion who made us discover unknown sound spaces. Here the progressive is in the vocals, and the guitar and the keyboards of the accessories carrying the choirs towards an apotheosis filled with drunkenness. I must admit ... this sand castle with such a beautiful and tortured voice made me shudder a little! Contrary to some reviews that I have read, "Catch The Beast" is a very successful composition and expertly interpreted. It won't jump out at you right off the bat, and you'll have to be patient to assimilate the little secrets that will reveal themselves to you as you listen. The interesting points of this title come for many from the vocal games, both individual and collective, from the rendering of the instruments which overlap perfectly with the vocals which will make us think once again of GENESIS. A mysterious atmosphere begins "Like A God", accompanied by a slow voice and diffusing a deliberately false song, giving a feeling of disuse and doldrums. A word of advice ... throw all blunt objects at hand before starting this listening, because the hour is serious and on the plate is written "No Future". But luckily, the musical parts will give us a glimmer of hope. "Masterlord" is here is a good summary of the potential of CIRKUS and a demonstration of C. LUCAS PROULX's talent in terms of singing, with a real ability to master a voice that walks with ease and fluidity between PETER HAMMILL and DAVID BOWIE, an anthology of phrasings well adjusted and held firmly, as well in the rising ones as in the fragile and emotional parts. The accompanists are not left, and deliver us here and there superimposed and polyphonic layers enhancing this bewitching voice, the orchestration suddenly taking its share of the cake with a more complex and more prog approach. My only complaint will be for the finale of this title which seems sluggish and without much brilliance, it's a bit of a shame for the end of the session ... When I discover an album I always trust my first impressions, if they are bad it's a good sign, and vice versa if the production is understandable from the start. Here this rule has proven itself once again. Indeed, from the outset I was not subjugated by these dissenting and dramatic voices, this mixed feeling of listening to a Post Punk group accompanied by a high level Prog orchestration, but especially taken aback by this contrast. After having patiently dissected this work and with the obligation to write a credible column, I discovered with delight a new way of shaping Prog, a kind of raw and fine mixture at the same time that I did not really know, because very heard ... Even if some may find this voice a little too present, do not press the off button before you have soaked up these skilfully constructed melodies, listen to these songs so particular but so deep and let yourself be take them to new and reassuring emotions. Strong recommendations!