AU-DELÀ DES OMBRES

So here is one of the most beautiful albums to have come along from the new millennium. "Au-Dela Des Ombres" is the work of a Canadian Music teacher in named Robin Gaudreault who has released one beautifully crafted album from start to finish. On this album you will get it all, breathtaking instrumentation (mellotron, rickenbacker and fretless basses, flutes, acoustic guitars and inspiration vocals with abundant harmonies). Each song has been carefully crafted and truly resembles the feel and tones of the 70's golden progressive rock era. The band lineup is Robin Gaudreault - vocals, 4 and 8 string Rickenbacker, fretless basses, 12 string acoustic guitars, flutes, keyboards, piano; Jacques Livernoche - drums and percussion; Éric Brassard - electric guitars; Chloé L'Abbé - flute; Jocelyn Guillemette - violins & soprano saxophone; Stephan D. & Frank B. - vocals; François Fortin - clarinet. Hard to peg all the music comparisons here but Mike OLDFIELD, Mike RUTHEFORD aka "Smallcreeps Day", GENESIS and even the MOODY BLUES. Overall a highly inspirational album with great color and tones.

I will not call it Masterpiece, just because is their debut album. That may change after a while...Anyways; this is a NEW Progressive music GEM. Genesis (the softer side) meets Harmonium?!; This one has everything, great musicianship, with all the instrumentation that I personally loved on progressive sense, that includes of course a lot of Mellotron, flute and violin. A fantastic interplay between guitar and synth, good French vocals and a sensitive percussion. A sense also of some Folk into it, specially with the use of flute, but overall I would put this one on a symphonic genre, with good dosage of Neo and Folk. Is hard to find anything weak on this album, and as a matter of fact I cannot find anything.

My highest recommendation!! As one of the best releases of 2002.

A one-shot project (so far anyway) lead by the lone Robin Gaudreault, who is a clear fan of 70's pastoral symphonic prog stuck between Harmonium and Genesis, but with a modern sound. Gaudreault wrote almost all of the music but not the lyrics, plays the vast majority of the instruments, bar the drums, flute and some electric guitars. So clearly the boss is Robin, with people hovering around him, clearly out to bring him the complements he is not able to bring out himself, even if he knows how he wants them to turn out in the final oeuvre. But this wish to master every aspect of the album is also his Achilles' heel. Obviously this oeuvre represents a lot to him and took an enormous amount of work to develop (probably against many odds too), but the results is blatantly naïve and sounds like neo-prog (sorry, not a fan) and certainly share the flaws of the genre. Clearly Gaudreault at this stage of his life does not have the necessary mastery to achieve an ambitious record successfully as he was hoping to do.

Yes the music is sometimes recalling early Genesis (the guitar arpeggios) and Harmonium (again the guitar but underlined by a Mellotron), but one of the things that ruin the effort (outside the derivative aspects of the music) is the loud actual drumming and some very awful sounding synths reminiscent of the early 90's. Clearly the album develops a schizophrenic mind quite quickly, hesitating between a typical 90's Neo-prog (Collage way of actualizing the classic prog) and a typical 90's Retro-prog (Änglagard type of reproduction of classic sounds). Apart from the French lyrics (relatively weak in the inspiration , but sung-out in a neutral French in a voice that does not move me much), the overall feeling (or concept) of the album is about a fairytale of freedom, peace and love that can only appear very naïve if inspected closely. There are some lovely moments (generally the guitar arpeggios underlined by the mellotrons and dominated by a flute) , but a few minutes later, they are ruined by a solid and basic drum (dominated by a dreadful snare drum sound and too much leaning towards metal music), dated synths, not always successful violin.

Among the better tracks are the opening Course Aux Papillons, the title track and the bass overloaded finale Ardeur Ternie, all of which are more in the retro-prog vein (this means that the modern-prog aspects are played down)

Among the definitely weaker tracks are La Traversée (the chorus is unbearably bad to this writer's nerves, but apart from the intro, the neo-prog is simply uninventive), La Rose De Stalingrad (same remarks than before, even if the lengthy middle section is correct, at most, taking cheap shots at Harmonium), Infantes (with its falsely naïve, but forcedly derivative intro of Genesis), the awful (but thankfully short) Mille Couleurs (again the unsufferable lyrics and chorus),

I guess one of the things that bothers me most about this album, is Robin's voice, which is never bad, but very bland and neutral. A very naïve, amateurish and derivative work, not devoid of charms either. Hoping that if Gaudrault is to give his musical passion the means of a second chance, the results will be much more convincing. But creating a real group might be the first step towards that achievement. This review got re-wriotten just before getting rid of the album to prog-buddy Arsillus, who will no doubt write a better review than mine, proving that unwanted albums can find a new home where they will find more spinning time and more affection .-)

All yours, Arsillus.

I truly loved this album! I listened few track from "Au-delà des Ombres" and I found it AWESOME. The music of the teacher Robin Gaudreault sound like a mix between GENESIS and HARMONIUM. Someday, I contacted him and we took a beer together, talking about music and many many thing. This man have a lot of potential. I've bought from him a signed edition and, 6 mouth later, "Au-delà des Ombres" always plays in my diskman.

Greet Job! Personaly, I find this album underated!

4.5/5

Here is a nice album produce by one man Robin Gaudreault and a few invited musicans.I like the sound of it(the vocals are in french).The guy must love Harmonium and Genesis(WHO DOES'NT) because it's maybe a mix between them but a bit more of Harmonium.The sound is good. long songs,short songs and the artwork is beautiful.It's not a masterpiece but a very good addition to your collection,especially if you like Prog Folk of the 70's.I give a 4 stars to this nice enjoyable cd. POTS

A lovely blend of guitars, often 12-string, flutes and mellotron, and great bass playing, reminds of Anthony Phillips' 'Geese & The Ghost' and early PFM a bit. Definitely of the pastoral, symphonic mind, Robin produces layers of lushness that recall gardens and lovely morning sunshine. This album makes me long for a vacation, at least for a day. Very nice stuff, occasionally themes are repeated a bit more often than I would like, but the melodies are consistantly strong, especially the instrumental sections. I eagerly await his follow up.

An appealing blend of modern neo with the pastoral folk prog of a long gone era, Ere G (aka Robin Gaudreault)'s "Au-dela des Ombres" recalls Harmonium's "Cinquieme Saison" in its acoustic textures, flutes and mellotrons, but thankfully with a bit more edge.

At times, as in the opener "La Course Des Papillons", the aforementioned edge consumes itself, sounding disjointed and schizophrenic when juxtaposed against the mellower passages. But the folky "La traversée" really gets things moving in the right vein, from the flutes to the majestic chorus. "La rose de Stalingrad" blends mellotron and acoustic guitars as well as fine synths and violin into a dream like atmosphere. While the instrumentation and arrangements are abundantly progressive, Ere G also has a soft rock/jazz soul as illustrated in the workouts of the later parts of "La Rose". The eclectic parade is also in evidence on the classically inspired title cut, and the finale "Ardeur Temie" features fusion-y bass playing and ends with a measured and elegant synth solo over choral mellotrons. Yum!

Ultimately, these extended tracks do lack somewhat for compositional skill and cohesion while not denying their melodic grace. They leave me with the sense that what is most needed is maturation, perhaps another album or two to sort out an identity based on more than just a tasty potpourri of late 20th century styles. A very respectable effort, it nonetheless leaves healthy room for growth.

ERE G is the project of Quebec's multi-instrumentalist Robin Gaudreault. I like the way Hibou describes it in the bio here as being Fairytale-Prog. And she's right it is heart-wrenchingly beautiful at times. I wouldn't describe the music here as spacey but as being dreamy. Lots of synths and mellotron. Interesting that Andy at Planet Mellotron said he was fooled (which is a rare thing) into thinking this was real mellotron and not samples which it is. Despite that he still gives this 4 stars and really compliments Robin's "inventive song structures".

"La Course Aux Papillons" is the 9 minute opening track. It has a great intro with out-front drumming and fairly heavy guitar. Vocals then mellotron as it settles. Nice bass before 2 minutes. A tasteful guitar solo after 3 minutes. A calm comes in with flute and mellotron. Violin before 5 1/2 minutes then the vocals return after 6 minutes. Kicks back in just like the intro then settles one more time with flute and mellotron. "La Traversee" is dominated by flute and mellotron early. Synths replace the flute then strummed guitar, drums and vocals replace the mellotron.The guitar soars before 4 1/2 minutes. "La Rose De Stalingrad" opens with guitar and keys as vocals join in. Synths and bass follow. The tempo then picks up before it turns dreamy with mellotron around 3 minutes. Synths lead after 6 minutes with a catchy beat .

"Infantes" opens with music-box-like sounds before the actual music arrives and gently builds. Vocals and lots of mellotron follow but check out the mellotron after 2 1/2 minutes ! "Mille Couleurs" reminds me of THE BEATLES. Mellotron before 2 1/2 minutes. "Au-Dela Des Ombres" opens with acoustic guitar and synths then piano. Vocals before 1 1/2 minutes, flute too. Then violin and flute start to lead. "Ardeur Ternie" features flute, mellotron and synths before the bass and drums add some depth. Vocals join in then acoustic guitar. I like the bass before 3 minutes. The mood changes before 5 minutes to a darker one before it lightens back up with vocals. Lots of mellotron later on.

If you like lighter music with lots of synths you should check this out. 3.5 stars.

Ere G is a canadian band and is the branchild of Robin Gaudreault also known from another Quebec prog band named Direction. The first album issued in 2002 Au-del' des ombres is to me a fairly decent towards great progressive folk with some symphonic twists here and there. The sound and manner of composing is very much similar with what bands like Harmonium or Genesis done in the golden period of prog but also atmosphere and warm acustic parts who resemblance of Anthony Phillips solo albums. The folk passages are ok melted with symphonic arrangements, specially the opening track La course aux papillons is excellent, I think the best pieces of the album, the rest are pretty much ok, but nothing really impressive for my ears. There are long instrumental passages with warm pleasent parts that for sure will please most of the fans of the genre. All in all a quite unnoticed album and band who needs a little more exposure. 3 stars rounded to 3.5.

Canadian bassist Robin Gaudreault was born in Roberval, Quebec and became known when becoming the bassist of Direction.However, before Direction even launched their first album, Gaudreault wrote his sole personal album, recorded in three different studios, under the name of Ere G, just using the initial letters of his full name as a pseudonym.For this release he transforms from a compentent bassist to a full multi-instrumentalist, handling guitars, bass, keyboards, flutes and vocals, even if he is helped by no less than eight guest musicians and singers.Entitled ''Au-dela des ombres'', this work saw the light as a private production in 2002.

Although Gaudreault's album is on par with the sound of many contemporary Neo/Symphonic Prog groups, there is something very retro-sounding throughout this whole effort, propably coming from the combination of electric guitars and modern synthesizers with the vintage echoes of flutes and Mellotron at moments.While not fully convincing, this combination achieves to adapt nicely the current Prog stylings with the 70's scene and Gaudreault's album sounds if FLAMBOROUGH HEAD and GALLEON had some spare time to share ideas with HARMONIUM and BEAU DOMMAGE.His music passes through ethereal, romantic soundscapes with excellent French vocals, rural flute lines and orchestral Mellotron washes to energetic, modern Symphonic Rock, where the edgy guitars meet the nervous sound of synthesizers.Songwriting is pretty great and the arrangements are delicate and well-executed with changing climates and alternations between fairytale atmospheres to rich, instrumental Progressive Rock.There is also a fair amount of acoustic themes in the album, which works very good next to the spacey keyboards and the more melodic side of electric guitars and makes the whole mood even more dreamy.Today meets yesterday in a work full of past, present and even future nuances, executed with love and care.

Gaudreault's stint with Direction would last for five years and three studio albums, as he left the band just before the release of their third album ''13''.

A must-have for any fan of French-spoken Progressive Rock and a decent addition for all followers of the current and past Progressive Rock sounds.Dreamy, atmospheric and melodic music, that deserves a warm recommendation.