PATIENCE

I've been following Clement Belio's efforts for some time now, ever since the old guitar forum days (about 10+ years now). He is a producer from France, who composes and plays mostly everything himself save for the guest appearances on his albums. He also mixes and produces it all. It's honestly a shame his music hasn't been able to cut through the noise just yet.. But I'm sure it will happen!

This album, Patience, was a monster when it dropped in 2019. It instantly became one of my absolute favorites of the year and beyond. It is so mature, well paced, brilliantly executed and downright beautiful. Conceptual in a melodic sense, but every song is unique and serves it's place on the record very well.

The whole album is like a celebration of music. It takes from many genres and blends styles to create such an emotional ride. From Tigran Hamasyan style Eastern-tinged piano bits, to Jacob Collier level harmonic vocal textures, to soft ambient passages and blistering chaotic metal-influenced madness. The record even includes an arrangement of a French composers piece, "La Danse Macabre", of which Clement takes the spice dial and cranks it into ghost- pepper-ville.

For some reason, this album is on this site but does not appear in the Eclectic Prog 2019 album list. I hope having a written review helps it appear so others might find it. Clement definitely deserves some more recognition for his efforts!

5 star album for me. Particularly because it is so consistent and well-realized. Do yourself a favor and check it out!

The beginning of this record has an ethereal mood that invites for an introspective audition. The organic mixture of soft psychedelic sounds, bird songs and a gentle beat brings an exotic and intriguing sound to this part of the album. More energy is gradually and ocasionally added some points forward, on second track. Some snippets are very inspired, combining symphonic prog with some moderate and low-toned good new age tunes. But the way the group tries to get ecletic on the same track sometimes evolves into some confusing interplays and changes of rythym.

The third track compensates this widely. It's a strong, well structured and memorable composition. Bass playing is so powerful, the rythym sections are suprising, and violin is incredibly fluid.

Next track is a free interpretation of Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre. This composition has an amazing tune. Besides this benefit, Clement added some very consistent, inteligent and even funny vocal harmonies and instrumentation. With that, he is also including playful aspects to this piece of classical music. Some tracks are sung in english, this is the only one that's performed in french.

Looks to me that 5th track is the first of what could be considered side B of the album. It i s also the initiation of the entirely instrumental suíte called Patience. I'll analyse it as a whole. First of all, it doesn't hold as a suíte: each part really seems to be destinated for a bigger song, but the musical connections between them weren't well structured nor harmonized. And its beginning is a bit saltless. Indeed, the last part would fit better, at least musically, as the first. Nevertheless, there are some great chord harmonies, interplays between piano and other instruments, among other splendid occasions, but I consider the suíte the weakest part of this release.

Last track, the 10th, doesn't belong to the suíte. It's beat has a very soft and enveloping electronic mood, but it's not electronic prog. Violin brilliantly catches up with the tune, before a pompous group of other chords complement with some energy.

The album is splendid, and tracks 3, 4, 9 and 10 are specially outstanding. I give this record a 4.2 stars.