ET CETERA

Et Cetera are far from mere Gentle Giant clones. I admit there are many superficial similarities to GG and they use many tricks that that band pioneered, but Et Cetera manage to create an entirely unique mood and atmosphere on this album. The sound is lush, warm, and soothing; led by the hypnotic lilting voice of Marie Bernard Page and some amazingly tight and intricate ensemble playing from every member.

'La Musique Tourne' is perhaps the one song on the album that follows most closely Gentle Giant's blueprint; it starts very similarly to 'Prologue' from Three Friends. This is mostly up-tempo pseudo-jazz featuring lots of complex musical counterpoint, syncopation, and abrupt timing shifts. The French vocals create an airy dream-like ambiance and there are sections of wonderful warm Moog playing among the highlights.

'Éclaircie' has even more labyrinthian vocal counterpoint than the first track. The male background vocals compliment the gentle female vocals very well and together they create gorgeous (yet confounding) harmonies all over this record. It's a real dichotomy how the music can feel so gentle and graceful yet have so much bizarre musical experimentation going on at the same time. That is definitely the biggest factor is making this band stand out from behind Gentle Giant's shadow.

'L'Age Dort' is my favorite song here. It's the quietest, most lithe and dreamlike. The vocal melodies have an air of melancholy in them as well... it can not be overstated how tear-jerkingly beautiful and chilling this singer's voice is.

All in all, this is almost a perfect album and is full of inventive ideas and excellent songwriting and playing. I would obviously recommend this most strongly to Gentle Giant fans, but also to Stereolab fans and French Symphonic Prog fans. I believe most Proggers could get into this quite easily actually... unless they happen to dislike music sung in the French language. This album seems to get better with each and every listen and never grows old! 4 stars.