PATCHWORK

I was in a record store flipping through vinyls. At some point the song that was playing ended and another one began. Within the very first few notes I went over to the owner and asked him what we were listening to in this very moment. He showed me the CD and I said 'right, I'm buying it'. Thank God I acted quickly because after me two other guys inquired also about the album. Patchwork is an EP (31:16 total running time) consisting of four tracks, three studio ones and a live number. Their sound falls definitely into the neo prog style and are, in fact, Marillion with French female vocals. Actually, they were supporting Marillion on the Seasons End tour and Steve Rothery himself contributes with a solo on the fourth, live track. The band is obviously keyboard-driven and the keyboardist Eric Bonnardel comes up with inspired melodies and themes. The playing of the guitarist Sylvain Gouvernaire is melodic and meanful (very much like his 'mentor' Steve Rothery) and the rhythm section of the bassist Yves Darteyron and the drummer Gauthier Mejanel is absolutely what the songs need. One could say that they lack originality and I wouldn't argue. But to my ears the songs are full of nice melodies, lovely vocals, no matter if they express themselves in less than 5 minutes (L'entaluve which is in 3/4 time and features a superb vocal line) or the theatrical Différences that exceeds the 11-minute mark. I would recommend the album to all neo prog fans and hear for themselves if they find the compositions worth listening to or if the similarity to Marillion is too much for them.