GEOFFROY

1. "Boule de Plume" (4:05) piano-based, simple drums, electric bass, electric guitar and vocalise join in to populate this sparse and spacious song. A child's spoken words occupies the center. Very pleasant. (9/10)

2. "Pluie" (1:25) two acoustic guitars being picked. The song sounds as if it came out of Western Europe sometime in the late Nineteenth Century or early Twentieth. (4.25/5)

3. "Viking" (12:02) slow, straggling prog folk with narration spoken in English. The music's intensity increases as more instruments fill the field in the second minute. At 2:10 there is a shift (with the bass line) as two keyboards add their lines, but then at the end of the third minute everything relaxes back into a spacious bluesy groove making room for Gilles' narration and gentle vocalise. The guitar and piano interplay is quite soothing with the bass now the most prominent performer. Dynamics intensify a bit at 4:45 before another thematic shift (in timing, as well) at 5:37 as strumming rock electric guitar enters and eventually, lead electric guitar. The route is interesting if not so very complex, while the well-spaced story never really gains attraction or interest. There are too many moments where the instrumentalists fall "out of the pocket" from one another. While I like the music and ideas here, I cannot reward this unpolished performance with as high marks as they might deserve were the band better rehearsed, fully attuned to one another. (20.75/25)

4. "Geoffroy" (16:29) plodding simple folk music with a bluesy guitar imbedded within and a chimeric lyrical idea. I do like the subtle acoustic guitar work: it has an old, even archaic feel to it. The second half (final 13 minutes) feels a bit more cohesive and (almost) polished--but then, it's so much less populated; I very much like the sparsity of this. The intermittent injection of synth chords is magical giving the music a bit of the HARMONIUM effect. By song's end I can't believe how won over I've become! After the previous songs I never thought I'd be rating anything from this album this highly! Even the scraggly PINK FLOYD-like lead guitar work in the eleventh-through-thirteenth minutes doesn't deter my enjoyment. I am caught in their spell in a way similar to the effect that TIRILL Mohn's work has on me. (27.75/30)

5. "Duo" (1:23) some very nice, competently performed Baroque classical guitar playing from, I'm imagining, the two Gilles. (5/5)

Total Time: 35:24

A creative band of perhaps-not-so-serious musicians (at least some of them) who have not, it would appear, gained complete mastery of their instruments nor their collaborative instincts. There are nice ideas here, they're just, at times, awkwardly realised. Would that they had had more interest and a more serious commitment to one another we might have more. Or, perhaps this is all they could generate with their chemistry and otherwise (ful)filling lives. It'd be fun to track down the members today to see/hear what their memories of the process are (if they are, in fact, pleased with the legacy they've left their children).

B+/4.5 stars; an excellent addition of obscure, well-intentioned Prog Folk for the true prog lover's music collection. Definitely worth checking out for yourselves.

Share this ÉMERAUDE review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to BrufordFreak
• Report this review (#2921632)
• Buy ÉMERAUDE music online with PA partners
• Show all ÉMERAUDE MP3/Stream
• Go to ÉMERAUDE page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Geoffroy page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for ÉMERAUDE related discussions