CHRYSALIDE

The hermetic style of each release is an acquired taste, to say the least, even to listeners drawn by habit toward challenging music. On paper they don't look so difficult: the instrumentation is disarmingly basic (acoustic guitar, modest bass lines, the occasional cello and/or tambourine, some monophonic vocals). And the compositions are even simpler, at times resembling the liturgical plainsong heard in some cloistered medieval abbey.

But these guys approach the art of making music like penitent monks wearing hairshirts, with every limited chord change punishable by self-excoriation. Heard individually, every song has its own spellbinding charm and mystery. But listening to one entire album, or harder still all three together, can be (borrowing a metaphor from the music itself) a heavy cross to bear.

I have to admire the band's uncompromising aesthetics. Another, astute Prog Collaborator here compared their style to Post Rock, which makes a lot of sense: the music is almost radical in its minimalism. This particular album, the last to be recorded but actually the second in the narrative trilogy, is probably the most accomplished and varied, but these are relative distinctions at best.

The concept too is equally obscure. There's some attractive, monochromatic Christian symbolism in the artwork and song titles, but the overall mood is more spiritual than overtly religious, and thankfully muted by the language barrier (a stray thought: if only NEIL MORSE would show equal restraint in his sledgehammer Prog Rock evangelism). Nevertheless, there's no reason why, with a little editing, the entire trilogy couldn't have been presented on a single CD (or addressed in a single review, like here).

To date the music of Chrysalide has attracted only a handful of intrepid Prog Archive reviewers (mine is the first contribution in well over a year). The free downloads are a welcome act of Christian charity, but the duo probably didn't have much choice: these albums would be a hard sell in any marketplace, cyber or otherwise.

The hermetic style of the trilogy is an acquired taste (to say the least), even to ears drawn by habit toward challenging music. On paper it doesn't look to be so difficult: the instrumentation is disarmingly basic (acoustic guitar, modest bass lines, the occasional cello and/or tambourine, some monophonic vocals). And the compositions are even simpler, at times resembling the liturgical plainsong heard in some cloistered medieval abbey.

But these guys approach the art of making music like penitent monks wearing hairshirts, with every limited chord change punishable by self-excoriation. Heard individually, each song has its own spellbinding charm and mystery. But listening to an entire album (or all three together: not recommended!) can be a heavy cross to bear (borrowing a thematic image from the music itself).

I have to admire the band's uncompromising aesthetics. Another, astute Prog Collaborator here compared their style to Post Rock, which makes a lot of sense: the music is almost radical in its minimalism. The most recent album in the sequence, "Triptyque" (actually the second in the narrative trilogy) is probably the most accomplished and varied, but these are relative distinctions at best.

The concept too is equally obscure. There's some attractive, monochromatic Christian symbolism in the artwork and song titles, but the overall mood is more spiritual than overtly religious, and happily muted by the language barrier (a quick digression: if only NEIL MORSE could show equal restraint in his sledgehammer Prog Rock proselytizing). Nevertheless, there's no reason why, with a little editing, the entire trilogy couldn't have been presented on a single CD (or addressed in a single review, like here).

To date the music of Chrysalide has attracted only a handful of intrepid Prog Archive reviewers (mine is the first contribution in well over a year). The free downloads are a welcome act of Christian charity, but the band probably didn't have much choice: these albums would be a hard sell in any marketplace, cyber or otherwise.

The hermetic style of the trilogy is an acquired taste, to say the least, even to ears drawn by habit toward challenging music. On paper it doesn't look to be so difficult: the instrumentation is disarmingly basic (acoustic guitar, modest bass lines, the occasional cello and/or tambourine, some monophonic vocals). And the compositions are even simpler, at times resembling the liturgical plainsong heard in some cloistered medieval abbey.

But these guys approach the art of making music like penitent monks wearing hairshirts, with every limited chord change punishable by self-excoriation. Heard individually, each song has its own spellbinding charm and mystery. But listening to one entire album, or all three together (not recommended), can be a heavy cross to bear (borrowing a thematic image from the music itself).

I have to admire the band's uncompromising aesthetics. Another, astute Prog Collaborator here compared their style to Post Rock, which makes a lot of sense: the music is almost radical in its minimalism. The most recent album in the sequence, "Triptyque" (actually the second in the narrative trilogy) is probably the most accomplished and varied, but these are relative distinctions at best.

The concept too is equally obscure. There's some attractive, monochromatic Christian symbolism in the artwork and song titles, but the overall mood is more spiritual than overtly religious, and happily muted by the language barrier (a stray thought: if only NEIL MORSE could show equal restraint in his sledgehammer Prog Rock proselytizing). Nevertheless, there's no reason why, with a little editing, the entire trilogy couldn't have been presented on a single CD (or addressed in a single review, like here).

To date the music of Chrysalide has attracted only a handful of intrepid Prog Archive reviewers (mine is the first contribution in well over a year). The free downloads are a welcome act of Christian charity, but the band probably didn't have much choice: these albums would be a hard sell in any marketplace, cyber or otherwise.

If you are not familiar with CHRYSALIDE, their style of play is based on acoustic guitars and basses, percussion and both male and female vocals sung in French language (which can be either charming or appalling, depending on your taste...). The main difficulty for me remains the vocals part as I don't happen to have knowledge of the French language. La Chute is a 'continuation' of the band's debut, both in style of music and creativity. The music is identical - can be described as dark acoustic folk.

Sadly, I have to repeat myself in saying that the major issue with this album is repetition. The use of the instruments really does not help in producing something more 'colourful' and interesting and the production, although not bad, could have been improved. The male vocals sometimes seem to sound a bit out of tune (or maybe it's just only me). The overall length of the album (similar to their debut again) does not justify the number of innovative ideas, although there are some very nice melodic moments that lift the mood.

Female vocals - one of the positive sides of the release - could have been used to a higher extent to give a bit more diversity to the 'flatness' of the album. I can't really pick out any specific song as a highlight, apart from the dark tunes in the introduction and epilogue. In my opinion, this record is for specific tastes - the knowledge of French will help you appreciate it more.

I don't totally dismiss La Chute, but I feel it will appeal to a limited number of prog fans. To summarise, I found too many similarities with their debut, and overall quality is one of them.

To my ears there is something straightforward with this release: there is NOTHING bad with the music, the guitars, the production (although the latter could be improved) and at the same time there is NOTHING great with this album. From the beginning to the end, the record flows in a standard motif, while the absence of various instruments does not assist in giving a different 'spice' to the sound, save for some cello intervals. On the other hand, there are some impressingly beautiful melodies at specific points but they are blended together with the rest - when you have finished listening there is not much left that would make you spin the album again and again; apart from curiosity of the strange melodies and the dark moods.

It also seemed to me that 59 minutes is a bit too long - it makes the album sound even more indifferent, adding to the monotony created by the constant acoustic guitars/vocals approach. To some, however, the long compositions with dark intervals might make the record sound more progressive. I could not possibly pick out any highlights as this sounds like a continuous story with similar tempos. One thing I really enjoyed is the dark French vocals and maybe this proves appealing to the non-speakers. To be fair, this is not a bad release, but there is a lot of room for improvement - also something tells me that it will mostly appeal to fans with specific tastes in prog.

Strange, weird and wonderful bands always just seem to fall out of the woodworks. Chrysalide is a fairly new band on the scene, at this point in time they've released a trio of albums that seem to follow a trilogy thanks to their naming conventions and cover art. All of the albums are available for free from the band's website, and everything seems to be very proggy. Cool cover art, long songs and multi-part songs/suites. On this first album the band gets to show their stuff for the first time, and it's very enjoyable. Basically we have one dude on the guitar one dude on the bass, tambourine and vocals. It boils down to very simplistic and calm music with the guitar going non-stop and the vocals over top of it.

The music is very enjoyable, and is certainly something to zone out to. For those of us who don't speak French (the language everything is in on this album) the album takes on a quality that is partly interesting since the concept is way over our heads being that it's in a different language, but it also partly helps make the music very drone-y since the vocals tend to meld together with the guitars throughout the album. The music itself does become very samey - it's hard to tell one song apart from another at times with that acoustic guitar going non-stop, even if there are some very beautiful melodies at parts. Most of the songs have lyrics and some of them are simply instrumentals, melodies are recycled at points through the album, likely due to it having a thru concept, and it's welcome every once in a while to remind you that the album hasn't sounded the same all the way through.

There really isn't much else to say about the album. It's sort of dark and entertainingly moody - the guitars give off a very dark feel at times, and at the same time kind of like you're being told a story in the wood. It also helps that they're prog folk in that aspect.

A good album that shows promise for the band. Since it's free I recommend you check it out anyways. It won't blow your mind, but it will certainly keep you zoned out for a little over an hour. Being that prog has always been a genre that is, by nature, way over the top it's likely natural that proggers would want a little more substance behind an album. Simplicity is good, but over simplicity is something that might not fare well in this particular genre. These guys do have a solid base to build off of for their next couple of albums, which I look forward to hearing. 2.5 stars, check them out - but particularly if you're not expecting something way over the top. A good effort with room to grow.

I also reviewed the other two albums in this series, and while the overdone presence of long, sometimes unfocused acoustic guitar strumming caused me to tire of them by the time 'La Chute' rolled around, I have to say that this latest offering shows some noticeable attempts at expanding the range of their music. This is still largely ambient, acoustic folk with decidedly French instrumental sensibilities that may not appeal to everyone; indeed, they don't always appeal to me. But there are improvements that make these songs more accessible than the first two records, and when listened to in its entirety the trilogy does have a sense of continuity that is appropriate considering the band's original intent.

The biggest difference on 'Triptyque' is the introduction of a piano on many of the tracks. My biggest complaint about Chrysalide's music in the past (aside from the fact that I don't speak French so I can't follow the vocals) is that there was way too much focus on Jacques Malinvaud's acoustic guitar. This led to a couple of fairly one-dimensional records, and along with the sometimes excessive length of some of the songs can cause listeners to tire of the music too soon. The piano passages expand the group's sound into more aurally appealing variations, and help to break up the guitar passages (which I still think are too long for the most part).

The other improvement is the expanded use of cello throughout. I jotted down a few notes after listening to their first couple of albums earlier this year, and there were three things I felt they needed to do to improve; use more strings, introduce some additional instrumental variety to offset the guitar, and either offer some English vocals or at least provide translated lyric sheets with their liner notes since less than ten percent of the world understands French. With 'Triptyque' they have accomplished two of these at least. In addition to the piano and increased use of cello, Vincens also employs a bouzouki, which isn't a lot different than an acoustic guitar really, but does achieve some additional variation in the overall sound. He also plays a cümbüs occasionally, but this is not prominent and could also improve their appeal if emphasized more during the many extended guitar passages.

The three albums combine to tell (I assume) the story of the life of Christ. Again, unless you have a grasp of French the theme may be lost, except that the song titles make this point a fairly obvious one, as does the artwork for this and the other albums. But even this is a bit abstract since there isn't a whole lot of singing, so the details are mostly left to the imagination or a separate reading of the source material (which you can find on the bedside table of most hotels).

Geoffrey offered me an advance copy of this album a few months ago to preview, and I burned it along with the other two albums and played them straight through a few times during a long sixteen-hour road trip I drove across the southern part of the U.S. this summer. I wouldn't recommend playing all three albums in one setting by the way, as the hours of persistent acoustic guitar will wear you down after a while.

But I do want to acknowledge that Chrysalide has evolved over the years, and that is quite noticeable on this release. I actually feel kind of bad that I never wrote back to Geoffrey to share this with him sooner, but hopefully he will read this and know I did not ignore his thoughtful gesture.

This music is not for everyone, and I have to admit I don't see myself playing this or even the other two albums very often. But I am interesting in evolution of this group as manifested in their three albums of music spread over the past decade, and if they were to release another recording in the future I'm sure I will be one of the people who adds it to my collection. This is a decent album that I would recommend to fans of placid acoustic folk, with the one caveat that you may want (as I have) find yourself wanting to tell these guys to keep looking to instruments other than just acoustic guitar to spread their message. Three stars for the best work from the band yet.

peace

Chrysalide has in fact developed a new and personal sound, with all acoustic instruments, mostly guitar and bass, accompanied with percussion. However, with this album, they've developed it further. It's apparent, that the players are both better composers and better skilled.

The songs are not quite hollow as they were on the other two albums, and the first track, Ego, is actually quite refreshing. It's not really music one would recommmend to anyone who enjoys grand melodies and/or a rythmic beat. However, the song drives on with the rythm beating guitar and good lyrics. The solo in the end is surprising in the sense, that the band seems to be lacking the vast range of off tune notes and accidental tempo changes that were present earlier.

Of course, the folk is still there, and it seems these guys are actually really doing it by themselves from the beginning. Litanies starts with a really strange guitar and proceeds to even more strange chords. The use of percussion is apparent here too, and it really bring depth to the songs. However, the electric guitar solo in between is really off in a sense. They use their own scales, and people, who are used to mainstream/conventional theory will most probably grimace, as it will most probably sound off tune. With those, who like to experience music in all ways and are very open minded, the experience that is Triptyque is most welcome.

There's not much to say about the songs themselves. Chrysalide has a clear plan of keeping the music similar throughout the whole trilogy, and listening to their music is bound to get repetitive. It is, as if they were still singing the same song. Basically Le Temple doesn't really differ from the rest. It's got a couple of nice chord progressions and singing applied to that, but aside from the technical aspect, the music remains more or less insipid.

The cello playing of Charlotte Martin is most welcome in this case. Every now and then the listener is given a peek to what the music on this album could be at its best. The ending to Le Temple is really good. That, and the beginning fo the next song, Kali Yuga are among the best parts of the album. The 4th track seems to strike out a bit harder, and the listener gets excited; perhaps something will happen... Well something does happen. The 9 minute song goes on, and suddenly changes as if a second track had just changed. Looking at the player, it was just a pause edited in between. Listening closely to the song again, on will notice that it is still the same song.

Triptyque carries the same name as the album, and is on first listen the best song along side with the opener. There's a melodic part that begins in the middle of the song and carries on really nicely. The thing about this song is that it's still a bit too long for its own good.

What can one really say. If the album can be judged by the first song, and the rest sound exactly the same, what's there to listen to? For people, who wish to listen to the story in the lyrics this might be intriguing, but it's hard to imagine anyone listening to the album through a second time, especially when just one song does that just as well and saves a lot of time.

The next song seems a bit better, but in the end it's just because it's only 6+ minutes long. But looking at the track listing, one can get really desparate. Why must we be punished with an almost 20 minute track when all you want is to get through with what you already have?

Nearly falling asleep after Immacule the listener is woken up again by a piano intro for Absinthe. Soon, the cello joins, and the song sounds utterly refreshing. though after a while one begins to wonder: is this really the same band? There's no sign of guitar nor the acoustic bass. No singing whatsoever. It seems as this song has been ordered to bring the album up one level. At that, it's also the shortest song on the album, an instrumental, and easily the best too. A whole album of beautiful music like this would probably not be such a bad idea after all.

Debut sounds very nice and welcome, though mostly because it is the last song. The biggest problems with this folk-prog band are obvious: The music is extremely boring. It's really hollow, lacks nuances, lacks variation and lacks coherency. A lot of instrumental passages sound like they were played off tune or just badly. The issue of ever changing tempo is solved on this album, but after a long while of struggling somewhere between sleep and wake, perhaps a change of tempo at some point would have been good. The whole album is in the first song, and the rest are just something composed to make it sound longer. I wouldn't spot a difference if they'd release it as just one long song. Seriously.

The album is not good, not even close. In fact, it's only worth getting if you're a completionist, mostly because it's free. But I wouldn't recommend listening to it, because that'd sound like I liked it. One song can be worth it, but that can be picked from any of the three records. This one, I agree, is the best of the three, and for that reason would deserve better scores than the others. However... I can't give more than two stars. In fact, I can't even give that. I'm sorry, but this album, free or not is not going to stay on my playlist any longer.

The overall point of the record seems to be to provide the setting for a three-record historical anthology of sorts that the band is fashioning their releases into. The middle part of the trilogy is still under development so it will be interesting to see if the whole body of work gels somehow into something comprehensive when that one is released.

Here again the theme of the music is lost on all but French-speaking listeners, but from the song titles its clear at least some of the tracks have biblical or vaguely religious overtones. There are more vocals here than the band’s other album, and while on the one hand this helps mask the instrumental sparseness it also further separates the premise of the lyrics from non-native speaking listeners.

There really aren’t any standout tracks here, and frankly I can’t say this is much more than a two star effort. There’s nothing about the music that is bad, just nothing worth going out of your way to spend time absorbing either. Of the band’s two available albums I would recommend ‘La Chute’ for those who want to give the band a try (and you can do so without much cost except your time since both albums can be downloaded right from the band’s web site). This one is probably for fans only.

peace