PLAY AGAIN

It's the third release of this French five piece progrock band but I had never heard of The Black Noodle Project, not really a progrock name or I must have missed the name is derived from Tolkien's The Lord Of The Rings...

The 11 compositions sound very melodic and harmonic with the emphasis on creating emotion and atmospheres. I was often carried away by the huge tension between the mellow parts and the more bombastic pieces: very tasteful embellished with a soaring organ sound that reminds me of Rick Wright his Farfisa (70-73 Pink Floyd) and sensitive electric guitar featuring a great build up and intense final part in Tomorrow Birds Will Sing, a slow rhythm with Fender Rhodes piano and emotional, a bit theatrical vocals in the melancholic The Great Northern Hotel, between soaring and fiery rock in Garden Of Delights, spacey organ and swinging piano and clavinet in the compelling, Floydian-inspired To Pink From Blue and the highlight Happy End: first melancholic piano and vocals, then sensitive violin work and finally an excellent 'grand finale' featuring breathtakng interplay between violin, piano and electric guitar, goose bumps!

If you like 70-73 Pink Floyd, early Porcupine Tree and the melancholic progressive pop from bands like The Cure, Coldplay and Radiohead, check out this wonderful and compelling new French band The Black Noodle Project!