THE BOX

The precursor to The Box masterpiece _All The Time, All The Time, All The Time..._. Pretty much an album of ideas in progress. The unique sound of The Box is already in play, however. The spacey keyboards, the excellent lyrics of Jean-Marc Pisapia. All tracks have a drum machine, though, which was corrected on _All The Time_ with a live drummer. Guy Florent has to be one of the most underrated guitarists. He has a great knack at using space and picking just the right notes. Never too many notes, always the right ones. This album is a great companion piece to _All The Time_, sounding like a progressive version of MEN WITHOUT HATS at times. Would appeal to fans of the more creative New Wave bands such as Comsat Angels, China Crisis and Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark(OMD). _Live On T.V._ is their first classic. An observation of real time news where _you can watch them die_(sort of an omen to youtube news and eyewitness cellphone reports). _Dancing On The Grave_ is another interesting one where they mention doing as such on the grave of rock & roll. _Quand Le Roy_ is their first mini stab at prog.rock which was a fan favourite in Quebec. Did I mention post rock in the same sentence as The Box? Not your average New Wave band. 3.5 stars for a promising debut.