Member:
The Silent Man
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by The Silent Man)
Date:
1/9/2006
Format:
CD (Album)
This is the debut CD from a new French band, and right from the start it's clear where their main influence lies - basically, they like Pink Floyd, and they don't like much else...
So all-pervading is the Floyd influence here that even the band's own press release dwells on it (or, at least the portion of it that's in English).
All of which is not to say that this is a poor album - far from it. Indeed, as long as you enjoy the (mainly early-ish) Floyd sound, and can accept the overt influence, this is skillfully rendered and very enjoyable album.
In the main, the sound here derives most closely from the Atom Heart Mother / Meddle period of Floyd, which is probably a good thing as it is possibly the least ploughed furrow of their career. Some tracks display other inclinations (“Cats” is very much in the spirit of Piper-era psychedelic whimsy, and “Don't Sleep Pt 2” and a couple of others stray closer to later Floyd), but you get the picture overall.
Other influences beside the omnipresent Floyd do surface here and there - the aforementioned “Cats” has more than a whiff of Roxy Music's “The Bogus Man”, while “Island” is very reminiscent both musically and lyrically of the King Crimson track of (almost) the same name.
I know I'm dwelling on the Floyd influence rather, but it seems obvious that the band are quite happy with this and make no attempt to hide it - and indeed good for them in many ways. There is much to be said for a band who proudly wear their influences on their collective sleeves. I do think however that if they produce a follow-up album, they might be well advised to step slightly out of the long shadow cast by Waters and Co, as there is plainly much talent here, and it would be a shame to see them labeled as a mere copycat band.
|
|
|
