HARMONIUM

What a beautiful debut from a beautiful band! This album reminds me of the beginning of Charly Garcia's music career: melodic folk/rock that anyone could like. The prominent instruments are only acoustic guitar, bass, and singing. Don't get put off by the fact that it is sung in French. Maybe I'm the guy who does not pay attention to lyrics. If you are like me, then you'll find that good vocals are more important than lyrics.

The title track tells you how the album will sound like. Catchy bass guitar, pastoral acoustic guitar playing, and absolutely gorgeous vocalizations often appearing in harmony. The ending of this song is excellent. In short, the opener is a pop masterpiece and the highlight of the self-titled album.

However, don't feel that the rest is inferior folk/rock, because it is not. Listen to a song like Aujourd'hui which features an orchestra of acoustic guitars playing rhythm, counterpoints, solos, everything. After listening to this song just now, I don't know if I can call the opener the only highlight. You got Veilles Courroies' catchy "na na na" vocalizations. The famous "Por un Instant" that has a great instrumental break is also not to be missed. De La Chambre is yet another track where there are many acoustic guitars playing with a very rich sound. "Un musicien parmi" is the longest and most complex song here featuring deeper instrumentation, including some electric piano. The vocal harmonies near the end are like a Canadian anthem. This song kind of foreshadows the masterpiece that was about to come.

In conclusion, this is a magical album, and one of the best albums I have heard in last 6 months. It is hard to believe that they came up with something even better in the next album.

Not Prog ... It doesn't have to be.

Again: Magical. Go get it! If you remotely like folk, you'll fall in love with this album.

Highlights: Harmonium, Aujord'hui, Un Musicien parmi Let Downs: Maybe Si Doucement (but It is still good)

My rating: B-

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