BEREFT OF A BLISSFUL UNION

If Fired was an album marked by a Frank Zappa stamp, Bereft of a Blissful Union could be one testifying of the musical depth and ambition of the band. Conceived for choreography and worked in collaboration with The British Smith string quartet, it clearly shows that there is no musical place where Sally can't cross its legs; contemporary classical (many tracks knit on measure for the Smith Quartet, deploying all their ability, a piece written by Schubert), jazz in various forms (here, the 24 minutes long track two is a killer; several stylistic bits are taken out of their time context and mixed together, like for example dixieland clarinets wailing on top of syncopated jazz-rock rhythmic lines, half tribal drumming giving place to 19th century classical dance hall music, cabaret jazz meets free, Latin percussions dance with strings, sampled New Orleans banjo pave the way to a howling sax in an orgy of rhythms, Broadway against Afro, etc... a true and genial melting pot!), music for thrillers (appearing quickly somewhere like a survolted ghost) and more yet! Changes happen at lightning speed and your brain comes to stock tons of brief information, until some classical pieces are brought in as release to the tensions. Nothing's left to hazard, everything is tightly conceived and programmed, despites the feeling of chaos and panic. Vermeersch in a nutshell!