ANOXIE

All tracks are written by Pascal Lachaize and ''Pastales'' has this lovely 80's underground sound, which I personally love, and deliver some good musicianship exactly in the middle of Electronic Music and Symphonic Rock.About half of the tracks are built around Lachaize's synth/electronics with hypnotic passages, cosmic atmospheres and a healthy dose of New Wave, sometimes supported by the rhythm section or distinct electric guitars and often having a VANGELIS-like cinematic symphonic grandieur.The other half is light Symphonic Rock but with straighter links to Neo Prog and very similar to bands like THE FOUNDATION or QUASAR.Dominated again by Lachaize's synthesizers, these tracks contain the interesting vocal work of singer Remy Soriano with some more guitar parts on the forefront and a tight rhythm section, but the production of the live performances does not help this time, as the recording quality is on an amateur level.Still the musicianship is pretty decent and the two studio tracks are great examples of synth-driven energetic Neo Prog with lovely choruses.

An obscure album for sure, ''Pastales'' is likely to please all fans of Electronic Prog and light Symph/Neo Prog and thus comes recommended overall.A long forgotten gem from the 80's with some pretty strong moments here and there.

For a French band these guys seem awfully melodic to me. My previous experiences with many French bands is they often have more eclectic arrangements, and tend to require much concentration and attention to fully comprehend. Anoxie isn’t like that at all – their music is quite approachable and pretty comfortable to listen to. Two exceptions to that comment though: first, the lyrics in the vocals are very hard to discern due to a combination of electronic manipulation of the vocals, and second because some of the tracks are rather poorly mixed. Considering these are early attempts by the band, this is understandable. Musically though this is a very enjoyable and varied album.

The songs pretty much fall into three tendencies. First are the few slightly grand, almost symphonic tracks like the opening “Overture”, “The Lullaby of a Butterfly”, and the rather muted “The Wizard of Odds”. All of these are instrumental tracks, and all are well-produced, melodic, and enjoyable.

Second are the electronic-focused tracks, synthesizer-driven and mostly reminiscent of Tangerine Dream in the same era, as well sometimes of Eloy (although in my mind they are a bit more sparse than any Eloy music I’ve heard). “Visa For Another World”, “Mutation”, and “The Returning” fall into this grouping.

And finally there are several thematic pieces where the music is meant to evoke a mood that matches the title (or vice versa perhaps). The Eastern-sounding “A Chinese Kite in Clear Blue Sky”, chamber-like “Hymn of Hope”, minimalist “The Lullaby of a Butterfly”, and whimsically romantic “Marie” all fit this description.

Like I said at the outset, this is more of a grab-bag collection than it a representation of a contiguous studio session. But the individual tracks are comfortable, pleasant, and mostly interesting. This is a good example of that period of symphonic rock in between the early classic bands like Yes and Gentle Giant, and the neo period of the eighties. As such it’s a good album to add to your collection if you can find it, but I wouldn’t call it essential. Three stars for sure though.

peace

ANOXIE can also be heard on the "Enchantement" compilation released by Musea in 1990, where Anoxie perform a song called "The Quest". It starts out slow and quiet, but at the end it has been built up to a crescendo.

ANOXIE's most recent track "The Man in the Moon" can be heard on the compilation "2001, A Prog Odyssey? (From the Lyon's Vault II)".