VOLUME IV - ILLUMINATIONS

Unfortunately, this is second weakest album by the band, after their final album Volume VI - Et s'aimer ... et mourir ... The songs aren't very adventurous or interesting, and it sounds like they were bored or short on material, but went forward with releasing an album anyway.

One of the biggest problems with this album is that most of the songs this time just revolve around repeating a simple riff, not going anywhere in particular. The percussion / drums are especially low-key, and actually the guitars as well.

The other issue is that Charlotte is back on vocals (from the first album), and way more obvious and upfront than before. They have a nice quality, not unlike Annie Haslam doing her non-word thing. But sometimes something good should be used sparingly. They're overdone here, and actually get in the way of the music at times.

The best song is "Poèmes du 17e siècle". It actually has full drums, rather than some light percussion noodling. Charlotte's doing some strange heaving breathing thing, which is sort of sexual, though not quite to the point of moaning. She laughs a few times too. "Mignonne allons voir si la rose" actually has quite a bit of laughing from her too. For all we know, she could have been higher than a kite when it was recorded. Maybe the whole band was too stoned to put much energy into this album.