SI ON AVAIT BESOIN D'UNE CINQUIÈME SAISON

This album is, in short, very good.

HARMONIUM sounded great on their debut (in my opinion at least) but added so much more raw emotion and power and--what many bands lack--melody to this one that it is virtually unstoppable as a prog force and clearly discernible masterpiece. Simply put: This is, with no doubt in my mind, one of the most melodically, rhythmically, and progressively strong albums I've ever heard...

Each song is, in relative terms, it's own "mini-masterpiece", and the album flows so well as a whole (thanks in part to the unifying concept of seasons, and the "If We Needed A Fifth Season" idea the album is named after.) that, before one even begins to realize it, it has drawn to its dramatic close.

Now the music:

We begin with summer, a relatively minor-key and down beat (yet fitting) opener that really sets the album in motion. You will be hard pressed not to find yourself imagining pollen floating in the air, yellow and green fields, and all of those pleasant images summer embodies... The follower--Spring--varies things up a bit, throwing Harmonium into a square-dance-like jig with great clarinet and piano solos/duets--this song never stops and it just makes you smile; which consequently is a good thing because of what's to follow.

Autumn is simply one of the most beautiful songs that has ever graced my ears--I actually cried the first time I heard it (no joke.and this is crazy, considering how incredibly rarely I cry)...it's just so well orchestrated and executed--so emotional...and the melodies are breathtaking; this is the point in the album where you are thinking, despite yourself: "Wow!" .and fittingly enough, this describes it all too well. Then you are finally forced to leave the nostalgic season behind, and you enter the wake of Desolate Mr. Winter: Beginning in a very low key manner, with sounds like howling wind, before enchanting you in its own oddly vibrant face. This song is, in my opinion, all about memories. Which is the great thing about the album. Winter is, by nature, desolate. Yet the song is not at all. It is the warm-fire (harpsichord anyone?), chocolate-chip-cookies, bedtime stories, the playing in the snow with friends side of winter. It is pleasant and very.fitting. Sad almost, in a very fitting, nostalgic way. Winter is the season of dying, even when describing the human cycle; when one is old, he is in his years of winter--remembrance. Which I believe is exactly what Harmonium is striving for here: with the recurring themes from Summer knocking at the door. We are old, yes, but we are happy.sad, yet hopeful. Amazing.

The last track though, is what makes this album the absolute masterpiece it is. The Fifth Season is absolutely stunning and without a doubt the most beautiful piece of music I've yet to hear in my life (unless of course you count this whole album as a unified "piece", and also perhaps barring some Philip Glass pieces). It is so well arranged and performed--it's awe-inspiring, depressing, uplifting, mystifying, trance-inducing--everything in one immaculately wrapped bag. It's one amazingly epic track that lasts just long enough.the perfect closer, the perfect song.the perfect album--and one of the very few.

Si On Avait Besoin D'Une Cinquième Saison absolutely belongs in every prog fan's collection, no matter what you're into!

Harmonium has conquered all with this masterpiece--and it is, without a single doubt in my mind, one of the undisputed and definite masterpieces music has spawned.

A complete 10 on my scale, and 5 Stars easily on this one. If you don't own it yet: Why not!?

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