LES ESPACES INQUIETS

I'm afraid I can't really say that I'm an Art Zoyd fan, despite the French band's reputation as one of the most significant, prolific and influential forces in the world of RIO and avant-garde music. Their approach to composition is intelligent, but rarely creative. Their sound is original, yet repetitive and lacking in variety. And on the whole, their music sounds cold and lifeless, which quickly translates into boredom. While this formula may work for soundtracks, on it's own it's hardly

These criticisms are aimed at all Art Zoyd works I've heard, and 'Les Espaces Inquiets' is no different. Generally, it's quite an accessible effort, with conventional melodies far outweighing the dissonance. However, it's mostly quite sparse and minimalistic, and rarely rises above pale, unmemorable motifs - although such moments do occur, most notably on 'Ceremonie' (which is conveniently offered as a streamed mp3 sample on this site). The intro is truly gorgeous, with striking, majestic organ progressions aided by soaring trumpet passages. The dense, slightly jazzy mixture of guitar strumming and sharp bursts from the brass section that follows is quite an experience as well. But the track is by far the most active and engaging on the disc, leaving the rest quite disappointing: the 'Images' series is little more than a collection of weak musical ideas, while 'Migrations' could've been something decent had it not been stretched to it's 13 minutes.

Thus, what we have here is a sinister, yet empty affair consisting largely of weak "background" music (although 'Ceremonie' certainly can't be labeled such). While this formula may sometimes work for soundtracks, it's quite ineffective on its own.