CLÔNE

Keeping it on their friendly, frenchy, homely foundation ; careless in some ways yet musically and creatively very committed , nurturing elaborated, well-thought adventurous music with the help of promising sounds and rich musical background, Tiemko went to explore its unique field for nine years.

Three years after their third album, the band included in Clone, as a major change, a couple of pastiche pop songs with doubtful meaning (sung by keyboard player Jean- Jacques Toussaint), and another bit of french banter (sung by drummer Eric Delaunay) , which could not hurt in the midst of fascinating instrumentals.

Let's rate this album as if it were the best in the World, simply because there must be an ultimate genius piece of music out here...

God only knows how do I love "Clone".

It's just a record that never manages to bore me, no matter how often I listen to it (and I do a lot!). While I genuinely enjoy and adore the previous three Tiemko's albums, this one is their ultimate masterpiece. The celestial form of progressive rock, electronic, ambient, avant-garde, jazz, fusion, pastiche pop and many, many more.

Even though Tiemko was just a three-piece band (Jean-Jacques Toussaint on keys, bass and vocals, Remy Chauvidan on guitars and Eric Delaunay on drums and vocal), they managed to create such a dense, and filled with atmosphere recording. Mostly, it's thanks to very deep electronic drums, loops, and tons of keyboard layers. But let's not forget, that these guys were extremly well composers, and used unusual, yet surprisingly amazing harmonic solutions.

Besides the aspects listed above, every instrument sounds just right. The electronic drums of Mr. Denaunay really do the job. It'd have sounded much more flat, if it were recorded with an acoustic set (believe it or not). Mr. Chauvidan's guitar sounds quite like King Crimson in the 80's (colour era). Very colourful and warm tone, which kinda stands apart to the bizarre notes he's playing. And finally, JJT's keys. I know people generally hate those "cheesy, 90's computer-game-like" synthesizers, but holy cow, I love them with passion. They are filled with tons of mood, which lead into the territories not fully discovered before.

And, obviously, you can't ignore this wonderful cover art. I've always been sold on these obsolete 3D computer graphics, and I love prog albums that have such graphics as their covers. This one is my absolute favourite. It matches with the music so well, that if you listen to this album with your eyes closed, this is what you will see in your mind. Breathtaking.

In opposition to Mr. Jayem, who said in his review: "Let's rate this album as if it were the best in the World", I must object - this IS the best record in the world. At least for me. I wouldn't rate "Clone" with 5 stars, simply because I feel like it's not enough. I have to rate it 5, just so I can share my feelings with you. This is something you've never experienced before.