PERFECT BEINGS

Perfect Beings is a musical project involving five talented musicians from various musical horizons but sharing the same passion for progressive rock. Somehow, the 5 "fantastics" avoid falling in the trap of playing complex music just for the sake of skills' showcase, by putting a strong emphasis on melodies and by building fascinating atmospheres. The opening track, "The Canyon Hill" is in an Beatlesque mood, with its cheerful beat like a marching band and its veiled voice like recorded in the 1930's (the whole bringing to mind "I am the walrus"). It segues into a festival of Yes-like sounds with majestic Hammond, frenetic drums and canon vocals. "Helicopter" is a split song where the first half with splashy swirling keyboards, blaring organ supported by aggressive imperial drumming and eccentric voice, contrast with the second half where smooth pleading voice, light guitar and piano touches give a meditative and dubious vibe to the music. "Bees and wasps" is a multi-layered track with a first section featuring a buzzing piano, a second section with Squire-like bass, throbbing voices, relaxed drums and mesmerizing guitars, a third section in a jamming mood with disoriented drums, distorted guitars and robotic voice, transitioned via a Prefab Sprout-like passage to a floydian fourth section with soothing voice, segueing in turn, after a mellotron interlude, into a fifth section with passionate vocals and anthemic organ/guitar interplay. "Walkabout" is another multi-layered track, that starts off in a pastoral mood with acoustic folk guitar and birds singing in the background. It goes on in a pop vibe with repetitive piano, shy drums and a catchy chorus. Bells-like keyboard sounds are backed by bells shaken like in a Christmas carol, before syncopated drums bring the band back on the prog rock railways. A minimalist repetitive piano with acrobatic drums rolling like a solid Joey Baron solo in a John Zorn project mark the transition to an intriguing world where drums move carefully forward and vocals are delivered in a dreamy way. "Removal of the identity chip" starts with tribal drums and light sharp guitar licks ' la Steve Lukather, accompanied by aquatic rhodes. Guitar licks are morphing into mischievous Steve Howe- like solos when drums turn punchier with their jazz-rock pattern. The music is then reminiscent of Genesis' "back in NYC" but the Yes influence, already present in the guitar, is reinforced when organs join. "Program kid" opens in a soft melancholic way where the voice is first alone with a discreet rhodes, then joined by relaxed drums and ghostly keyboards. The song turns suddenly more aggressive, bringing back to mind the italian prog rock bands of early seventies with daring guitars, overpresent Hammond B3 and a sense of urgency in drumming. "Remnants of shields" is a laidback song retaining an exotic flavour in the use of ukulele. The voice is like floating in the air and adds to the relaxed mood. "Fictions" is a song where insisting repeated words "far away", "changes", "fictions" are like a call to join a better world. This invitation is supported by cheerful and smiling guitars. "Primary colors" is a balad with a slowly building "colourful" melody and vocal work akin to the likes of elizabethan era composers like Dowland. "One of your kind" opens with meditative guitars evoking the grand canyons, followed by ritual native American percussions, then Steve Howe-like mischievous guitar accompanies the melancholy of a shoegazing band. An acoustic guitar passage that could have been sampled from a Sergio Arturo Calonego album is soon followed by prog madness with explosive drums, cheerful keyboards, and disoriented guitars - that become more controlled when the grandiloquence of Steve Howe meets the modesty of Jerry Garcia, together ending in laughing accents. With its blend of syrupy melodies, a dash of melancholy that Radiohead wouldn't deny, and the floating spirit of early Yes in its dynamics, Perfect Beings' self-titled album is a compelling journey across ever-changing seas.