LOUGAROU

Lead by the North-Ontarian Lalonde brothers, this group got often considered as Québecois, especially after their name change that came along with their second album, but distinctly Lougarou was Ontarian. Indeed Lougarou came with CANO from North Ontario and presented a light progressive folk, more like an electrified French (yes from France) folk, but stretching sometimes to Acadian folk as well. Hiding behind a superb artwork, this first album mixes straight traditional folk to Tull-ified folk rock soundscapes, so there is a very strong work in the arrangement . Opening on the acoustic folk Dis-Moi, Charles, the album veers on the great Tull-ish Belle Françoise, while the piano-led Partance arte both fully electrified folk rock with plenty of electric guitar works from both Michel and Antoniak, both tracks just under six minutes, allowing plenty of space for intricate musical interplay. The tracks finishing side 1 are also full of charm, but shorter, but La Vendée has an impressive vocal delivery. You could imagine yourself on a Malicorne album with such tracks.

The flipside opens with the upbeat Hirondelle, and the album continues like the other side of the wax, but the treatment of La Claire Fontaine (extended to 7-minutes) is a pure gem of mixing acoustic and electric music together, but has plenty of dramatics as well, including some excellent guitar works. The following Eclipse can't possibly compete with that, but still manages its

While I wouldn't call any of Garolou's album essential prog folk rock, this debut album and its two successors are definitely worth hearing, because they represent another way modernising folk music.

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