VIVRE ET MOURIR

Oh! Boy! Talk about a quantum leap?

Sophomore album for Montrealers french singing « Dream Eaters » and here, at PA, the team in charge will have to wonder about the « prog folk » qualifying!

Allow me first to quote myself, talking about Mangeur de Rêves first album, 2019's Histoires à l'envers , ending my recension by « ...the conclusion leads to wonder what's waiting for us on a second offer, hopefully some day soon. One simply hopes for a slightly better and clear production... » As production matters, here is at once a big improvement. Clearer, longer, and most of all « louder ». This leading to that, anyone tempted to reduce « MdR » (pun intended?) to a bunch of Harmonium wannabees, be ready to swallow your tongue. And be advised PA Prog Folk Team, « eclectic » would be a more than well advised definition by now. Simply put, we now have a full band firing on all his cylinders, where the first album was showing two founding members flexing their muscles in front of three adequate support actors. The cover picture is more than an efficient metaphor for that purpose, showing the five musicians as wrestlers engaging in the middle of a church!

Alex Cégé, lead vocals and guitar, Jici LG, main guitars and backing vocals allow much more space to their three associates, all back to front. Florent Schmitt, once essentially performing on electric piano, can now be heard on a wider array of keys, thus thickening the sound. But the biggest change may be provided by the rythmn section, Jean-Philippe Major on bass, and especially Raphaël Liberge-Simard, drums and percussions, « in that order », as opposed to the first album where one could say he was « hand snapping ». Now, he truly rocks! And leads the way to the greatest change in sound.

From folk rockers, Mangeur de Rêves has become true Art Rockers with a dash of folk as a spice. And if one is led to think that the two founders are somewhat put to the backseat, nothing's can be so wrong. Jici LG is heavier, more versatile, yet hasn't lost his light touch for these atmospherics renditions « ala Beaumonium ». In fact, tracks 3,4 and 6, Courage, Nouveau Soleil and Vivre still respect all the specifics of a good quebecois folk song entranched in the great tradition of the seventies. But, in 2023, meet the new and improved Mangeur in chief! Alex Cégé now soars! His vocals even reach for the divine! One of the distinctive assets from the very beginning, with that clearer, cristalline recording, Cégé's singing is simply a thing of beauty. And from the moment they plug it all, adding by now to their progressive roots, elements of pop, rock , post rock and, why not, some heavy metal for good measures, the singer can't be overpowered and even express is inner Matthew Bellamy!

All is multicoloured now. Where Histoires à l'Envers opened on a thirty seconds of instrumental atmospherics, Vivre et Mourir goes for the jugular with a nearly three minutes prog instrumental, Dieu Soleil. And without transition, Animal, is a direct smile to the airwaves. If the definition of a true single potential still means something, this is it. As mentioned, Courage and the ambitious Nouveau Soleil, show the trademark balladic Dreamers side, only improved to a new level. Further exemplified by the following Les Fantômes, a power ballad of sort, tender a moment, truly rockin' the next. And Cégé's falsetto to die for.

The other pastoral one, Vivre, is simply my preferred one. I hear a Hackett ballad, the Foxes folk, that celestial whistling, all coated by LG's acoustic masteries. One complaint, i'd take twice the duration. The instrumental Mara shows in short the album dichotomy with is post rocking crescendo. And now, i'm a sucker for these mellow male and female quebecois duets and, on 15 000 nuits, Sabrina R.B., an ace out of Mangeur's sleeve, does not disappoint. A real winner.

The most unexpected and stunning addition to the band sound comes next. Titled Le Mangeur de rêves, to further dissociate any preconceived idea, it's a nearly thirteen minutes doom, yes « doom metal » heavyness; this is the only adequate word my second langage knowing of english allow me to use for this intrumental extravaganza, until we reach an antiklimax, and then Cégé's howling, nothing delicate for once, but oh! So powerful! If this is the direct reference to the album title « Live and die », here is the moment of passing.

But we're not over yet. So, Quand le Silence te Rattrapera, would fit as a resurrecting song? A nice prog anthem, a sort of Afterglow to end in fashion. Kudos boys! As sophomore jinx is implied, what a nice way to clear the obstacle!

A little flashback to the already distant year of 2010 when I told Jean Philippe MAJOR that HAMADRYAD's album "Intrusion" was bad......unfortunately history later proved me right, it is by far the group's worst album of the time. A little historical reminder to say that nothing is definitive in a man's life since here I am reviewing the second album of MANGEUR DE REVES Quebec rock group formed in MONTREAL in 2016 and of which JPM is a member.

Please note: I don't know the Montrealers' first record, I come with new ears. The theme of "Live and Die" dixit Alex CEGE explores mythology, depth psychology and human relationships?multiple choices to say the least. The group is categorized as "Prog Folk", we are far from it today except on a few passages we will see it below. Alex CEGE & Jici LG, the two founding members, left a wide field of expression for the three other musicians compared to their first record which was more of a duo with accompanists.

"Vivre et Mourir" begins with an energetic and very beautiful instrumental piece "Dieu Soleil", certainly a good choice (8/10). "Animal" a bit bluesy and very radio-friendly follows, the progressive rock will wait for the moment, Alex's singing is very pleasant (8/10), Gérald you will be able to play this one on repeat! "Nouveau Soleil" is on the contrary a real progressive mid-tempo fresco with a really marked HARMONIUM side, too short for my taste (9/10). The sequence with "Les Fantômes" comes naturally, this one is "beautiful" as hell in its first half, with a brilliant Alex CEGE, almost feminine vocals in a very extended register (9/10).

The acoustic "Vivre" and the magnificent instrumental "Mara" come, both a little too reduced before attacking "15,000 Nights" and its male/female duet, Alex is helped here by Sabrina R.B, it's clear and beautiful, bucolic, a high level melodic candy (9/10). The only epic of the album arrives, more than twelve minutes with the piece that bears the name of the group, here no folk or Quebec song (except for the first minute and then again), no more BEAU DOMAGE than HARMONIUM or EXCUBUS, the direction taken is a muted contained violence worthy of the ANATHEMA of the beginnings, a mixture of post rock, softened doom and....symphonism, bluffing and unexpected (10/10), Raphaël LIBERGE SIMARD is remarkable on the drums and various percussions and the six string players are not left out (the meeting between JOY DIVISION and SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES for those who knew the British new wave of the eighties...)

The concluding track "When the silence catches up with you" (9/10) poses as an outlet which takes up all the sensibilities previously heard with high-pitched vocals (two voices again) and which gives it a particular character with the return towards an enchanting progressive of high quality, a silence that I would have appreciated longer, six minutes is too short gentlemen!

Bands shift and move over time, and that is important, but it is quite unusual for a band to switch quite so much between the debut and second albums, but that is exactly what has happened with Montreal based Mangeur de Rêves. If one was to play just the song "Vivre", then it would be easy to say this album is a direct progression from the debut when they were very much folk-based progressive rock, with heavy emphasis on acoustic guitars, little or no percussion, and a strong emphasis on electric piano combined with wonderful vocals. Here we would be arguing the only real shift was to a different style of keyboards, but when one listens to the rest of the album, we have the strong impression that here is a band who used their debut as a starting off point and are now reaching in a very different direction indeed.

It is the exact same line-up as the debut in Alex Cégé (lead vocals, guitars), Jean-Philippe Major (bass, vocals), Jici LG (guitars, bass, vocals), Raphaël Liberge-Simard (drums & percussion, vocals), and Florent Schmitt (piano, synths, vocals), but even just looking at the artwork allows the listener to know here is a band with a very different mindset indeed. I have no idea how they got permission to take those photos in a church! If they were sent to PA for inclusion now, there is no doubt in my mind they would be in Crossover, yet due to the debut they will long reside in Prog Folk, but while there are elements of folk here and there, we now have a band who have firmly moved into art rock and taken influences from multiple places. There are multiple highlights, but a special mention should be made of the duet which takes place on "15000 Nuits", with Sabrina R.B guesting alongside Alex in a piece which contains real beauty. Opener "Dieu Soleil" starts as if it is Thompson Twins before the guitar makes an ominous entry, with just the piano attempting to bring in some lightness, this takes us into "Animal" which has a far more jangly approach and a sound reminiscent in the introduction of Crowded House before slowing down into something which sounds much more like modern Marillion yet with clear falsetto.

All lyrics are in French, which I have long forgotten (school was such a very long time ago), but I enjoy the way the vocal melodies flow and just treat the words as another instrument. This is not an album I expected from Mangeur de Rêves, yet it shows a huge amount of growth and if they have travelled this far since the debut what can we expect from them next?