SAPIENS CHAPITRE 3/3: ACTUM

The intrepid Jean-Pierre Louveton has made a name for himself with French prog band Nemo, with ended its run of brilliant albums in 2015 with the startlingly amazing Coma, deciding to embark on a full-fledged solo career which had already paralleled the band with a series of delicious albums under the moniker JPL, beginning in 2002, Le Livre Blanc (2017) being a masterpiece in my mind.

JPL undertook a huge epic task ,a three-section opus on the human condition (a French fascination with celebrated names like Malraux, Pascal, Zola, Baudelaire, Voltaire, Hugo, Proust, Camus etc..), labelled Sapiens, all three have gorgeous artwork that has created quite a commotion as well. Chapter 1 Exordium (2020), followed by Chapter 2 Deus Ex-Machina (2021) and now Chapter 3 Actum (2022). The first two chapters have received huge critical acclaim, but I will review first this third one, as it is, IMHO, the finest of the trio. In fact, JPL with compile all three into one boxset, with even more glorious artwork, a gift I fully intend to give myself.

For those who are unaware of Louveton's musical qualities, let me state for the record that he is an exceptional electric and acoustic guitarist as well as a fine vocalist in the theatrical French prog tradition (Le Guennec, Decamps, Balzer etc..). He provides an equally deadly bass guitar as well as occasional keyboards. He has a compositional style down pat that highlights melody, harmonics, technical bravura and lyrical commentary (mais oui, it helps to know French). He has always demonstrated prolific tendencies, a mind constantly creative and adventurous. The very first moments set the standard to follow, as an ominous electronic burp morphs into a hard-jazz groove that is truly ear-catching and most pleasant.

"Paradis Perdu" has a crispness, a slash and burn methodology, and a chugging sizzle that are hard to ignore. Nemo drummer Jean-Baptiste Itier propels forcefully as JL rants in Gallic splendour, hushed, raging and exalted, as per the style. His guitar uncorks a humble rip, a prelude of what is to follow further down the setlist. "Mon Cerceuil" is a lazy furrow, eventually evolving into a choppy lament where flute delicacy and rhythmic dread co-habitates skillfully. Drummer Florent Ville taps hard and fast in maintaining the jumpy almost funereal ambience, slowly elevating the angst level with added effusive bombast, as the e-guitar twirls mightily. The outro is a gentle whimper of resolution. Sounding more like classic Nemo, the steamrolling "Alias (La Machine2)" offers desperate vocals, underpinned by harder axe blasts, a slippery bass, berserk synths as well as Ville's thunderous pace. Brash harshness defines the mood here, a pulsating piece full of bold defiance. Other Nemo colleague Guillaume Fontaine helps on keys. The sadness surfaces on "Dansez Maintenant" (Dance now), JP's melancholic vocals serving to set up the almost ZZ Top like rhythm guitar onslaught, as the duet of electric guitar and synths then parallel each other defiantly, in a terrific setting, adding a lovely hurdy-gurdy tidbit to the loud guitars. Very cool and very French.

Epic time as the 5 parts "Memento Mori" lunges ahead, with its running time of 23 minutes. Orchestral maneuvering sets the tempo, a welcome classical overtone that will supply fabulous contrast to the glorious guitar march towards the unknown, choir mellotron in tow. The tortuous frets twist in unison with the bass and drums, creating a glum, almost war-like atmosphere, Itier once again demonstrates his percussive skills with some solid touches. JP delivers hushed yet angry vocals, as he fulminates over the human condition, occasionally tossing sweeter segments verging on insanity. Did I mention theatricality earlier? Even if one does not speak French, the gist will appear in his delivery clear as fractured crystal. The bass pops like the best corn, as the guitar goes on an extended rant, with that patented frizzy overtone that JP seems to favour. Ornate piano from Stephanie Vouillot adds a touch of drama, and a lovely as well as unexpected jazzy soprano sax solo (Sylvain Haon) seals the deal. Nothing sedate, all the material is jumpy, nervous and edgy. The tremendous fifth part pitches in wobbly bass, bombastic mellotron choirs as well as sensational keys, propellent drums and the usual marvellous guitar reflections.

An excellent conclusion to the series, again all three releases combine to provide an amazing modern prog ride, JPL is an artist that needs your attention and support as Nemo was a highly rated and appreciated member of the prog community, and his solo stuff is just an onward journey.

4.5 keepsakes of the dead

With a style that combines the most traditional forms of progressive rock with the strength of hard rock-heavy metal, Jean-Pierre Louveton set out to make a trilogy of "SAPIENS CHAPITRE" albums (with a dystopian science fiction theme and certain allusions to the condition human), which would end with the album "Actum". It could then be thought that it is a pretentious work -partly due to the idea of ​​touching on transcendental themes-, but the truth is that the music -which is what should matter most to us, since the lyrics, no matter how deep they are, music don't say anything- it doesn't get to be excessive both in duration and in stylistic resources, rather what we have is an album that reminds us of the old creative and adventurous spirit of the progressive bands of the 70's. All the instruments complement each other to create counterpoints between varied melodies and strong moments (as in "Dansez Maintenant" where a powerful riff gave way to a folk-style melody played by an electric guitar and a hurdy-gurdy). Even in the last composition "Memento Mori" of 23 minutes in length, the themes develop naturally - from small orchestrations to more jazzy moments - without giving the impression that we are facing an epic or definitive work.

I recommend not only listening to this interesting album but also reviewing the complete trilogy, which both lovers of classic progressive rock and enthusiasts of more modern proposals may like.

JPL is therefore releasing its latest opus-baby on homo sapiens, an album supposed to talk about musical progression in a territory that is unfortunately dying; let's go for the note.

'Paradis Perdu' for a bluesy rock with a nice progressive intro, that's enough. 'Mon Cercueil' with a more marked bluesy side, accompanying the voice which is still too captivating for me; the ai is in line with the 70's just by the vintage keyboard, yes I am thinking here of ANGE; the variation with choirs is intended to be shimmering, it starts by mixing vintage, blues and French rock, a layer of jazzy synths comes to stir up trouble. 'Alias (La machine²)' more nervous, choppy, based on a text that must be assimilated to avoid being taken by the narration. 'Dance Now' percussions ahead, title which does not look like much, amalgamation of various used sounds, then boom the folklo-medieval break which flows all by itself, guitar, biniou and clarinet for a seductive buff. 'Memento Mori' for the master piece, you know the thing you're telling yourself there, it's going to be good! and it's very GOOD! Walking on a bald mountain in the distance, and not towards the unknown, time flees since this linked subtitle surfs on the orchestral quality of the previous one; The death of the king with the introduction of the text and always this plus/minus, that of sitting down to listen and the voice and the guitar which takes over a very singular bluesy variation, letting the spirit wander, a sign of good quality; 'Paria' arrives suddenly... clean cut for a disconcerting jazzy space, but how good is it. In fact it's prog because it lasts a long time, it's varied, fresh, changing, evolving and... difficult to transcribe, so only one solution, grab this album and make up your mind, but do it. 'Acta fabula est' yes it's not over, this last title further consolidates the atmosphere of this trilogy: admirable, not that I'm fanatical without thinking, but to confirm that there is great art, rock art below; the festive riff, Balkans or throne fair is there to energize this album.

JPL scored a good point with this 3rd album of... its trilogy; the first was very good, the second the same as I expected more; this one where I didn't expect anything more so as not to have too much expectation, seduced me with the finds, the creations of musical style and the sound inventiveness; this album is really a great moment. Only problem the first titles not intense enough avoiding me to put 5 stars.

As one can tell from the title, this is the third and final album in the series from Jean Pierre Louveton, guitarist with Nemo. There are many more musicians involved with this one than the last, but drummer Jean Baptiste Itier (also of Nemo) is still there, the only musician to also feature on the last two releases, which were basically solo ventures by Louveton. Lyrically this concludes the trilogy about human history, all in French, but musically it is so closely related to his time with Nemo that fans of that amazing band (undoubtedly one of my very favourite French acts) need to get this not only due to JPL and Itier playing on this but directly due to the musical qualities.

Louveton has a love for the symphonic, yet also enjoys crunching his guitar so the combination is always an interesting mix, so much so that he has been indicated as crossover within PA but that is because he crosses so many different sub genres within the progressive scene as opposed to playing music which could be thought of as part of the crossover sub-genre itself. He is a musician who follows his own style and the result is an album where the listener is never sure where it is going to go, just that there will always be plenty of guitars, some nice symphonic keyboards and orchestral moments, and someone who knows exactly what he wants to achieve. The result is an album which is thoroughly enjoyable the first time it is played, but the more it is listened to, the more layers there are to uncover. Apparently, this is also now available as part of a 3 CD boxed set containing the other two albums in the series, and that will be a delight.