SPIRIT OF THE MATTER

Mysterious ... it's almost nothing known about them ... a trio from France using alias names, that's it. Well, at least outfitted with enough reputation to be signed by Musea Parallèle. The label presents this album as a trip through the cosmos and the exploration of an imaginary planet named Zuble. SPIRIT OF THE MATTER are really freakish ... sometimes this sounds naive, innocent, as if they accidently met and thought 'now that we are here together, let's play something or other'. But you must consider, it's not their debut and enhanced with overdubs, which means not totally recorded out of the blue. Well, in any case they offer psych/space prog mixed up with folk/ethno/krautrock elements, experimental and rather trippy.

Spaced out in concrete terms because full of surprising twist and turns - and therefore not an easy task to review. After a while I used to put my headphones on in order to capture all the fascinating details and the irresistible atmosphere at its best. Just take the unpredictable variations in pressure and timing concerning Remi's drum work, really interesting to follow. And you are constantly taken along into hallucinatory excursions. Here and there a violin appears accidentally, a bunch of electronical gimmicks are utilized, they mix spoken words in French and English together, spooky moments are offered in between. Not only the title track proves them as great space surfers by the way

'Zuble Land' is an enjoyable psychedelic trip of roundabout 40 minutes, hence not very extended ... but enough though to consider this essential ... which at least goes for die-hard genre fans. Unique - I have problems to name any stylistically related band when regarding the whole excursion. Okay ... if anything than Turzi probably, who are from France too surprisingly. No way to point out any particular track which should be emphasized - I strongly recommend to assimilate this album in one go - and please use your headphones ... 4.5 stars really.

The French trio SPIRIT OF THE MATTER has been an active producer of music since 2007, with a total of five releases to their name since then. All of these have been privately issued and, now available, these efforts have been largely unknown, as are most other facts about this act besides the names of the band members. "Zuble Land" was first made available in 2009, and in late summer of 2010 Musea Records reissued it on their Musea Parallele imprint.

If you enjoy your space rock as well as your krautrock, or if you're merely interested in exploring a band with a bolded approach to the former genre than what is common, SOTM is an act well worth investigating further. And krautrock fans who don't mind dealing with music where futuristic and space-inspired effects are utilized should also find this to be material worthy of interest.