SONGS FROM MIRAGE

ARANIS began life as a seven piece band from Belgium, playing an all instrumental, chamber rock style of music. That lineup released albums in 2005 and 2007. "Songs From Mirage" is their third studio album from 2009 and there has been some changes. That seven piece is still here, but they have added three female singers and two extra piano players for this one. Which of course changes their sound significantly. An upgrade in the album cover here as well in my opinion from the first two records. That seven piece includes two violinists, accordion, piano, double bass, flute and guitar.

I own this one and the followup from 2010 called "Roqueforte" where even more changes occurred with that seven piece dropping to a five piece with one of the violinists and the piano player leaving. But adding several guests including viola, two piano players and a drummer. A drummer? Yes, and it's Dave Kerman, while one of the pianists is Pierre Chevalier. I'm pretty happy with these two records and feel the 2010 release is the better one for my tastes. "Songs From Mirage" is fairly rhythmic and piano and string led. But the female vocals really do dominate the most. And they are ethereal, almost gothic, even though they are female. A lot of wordless vocals too.

And while they do veer from that sound at times, this is a uniform sounding record. It's also a very melancholic record, almost to a fault. We get 14 tracks and it's just under an hour long. Track six is my first top three and it's called "Airesym". Mainly for being the first departure in sound as we get moments of intensity. "Lever In Plakjes" impresses with those slicing violins as the vocals come and go along with the piano. And the closer "Finale" rounds out my top three, and it's also the longest at over ten minutes. The recurring themes and those dark sounding melodies draw me in.

This band was about class and quality. And I honestly just found out today that they disbanded after their "Smells Like Aranis" record from 2017. Still, they gave us seven studio albums and a lot of classy music, so thankyou.