JEU DE PAUME

Contrevent's first album would've come as a bit of a surprise if someone had noticed it outside the very-local scene, but Contrevent's instrumental jazz-prog was about as far removed from the pop scene as a polar icecap is from the Equator. Coming in a dreamy light- blue artwork, the title refers to a rare ball-game played on the local level in Belgium (a variant of the pelote-basque), and the trio of frontmen (Vallée's guitar and keys, Beausoleil's vibes and Gagnon's violin & cello) allow for a wide spectrum of ambiances. The Paradis brothers handle the rhythm section.

A very rhythmic Anti-Statique opening of the album features Beausoleil's vibraphone as the lead instrument with Gagnon's violin. Vallée's acoustic guitar is one of the main drives of Crème De Menthe, where the vibes and violin play second fiddle. The title track is changing often of climates, but remains in the album's coherent musical direction. Beausoleil's vibraphone is the spine of D'Eau, but it's kind of sleep-inducing, while Brume Et Glace (mist & ice) sees Gagnon's cello open

Quite an iceberg in the middle of the tropical seas, Contrevent's JdP is definitely some kind of UFO from a long-ago imploded planet, from which the only refuge might have been on the ECM label.