THE GOLDFISH

'Love Transfusion' and the dated keyboard intro, heavy bass, the 80s as if it were yesterday; Bernard on vocals, the nasal voice calls out in view of the orchestration. The fat, twirling break, a zest of IQ, an oriental slope and off we go for the dream. Reprise with a heavy riff tearing away the languorous atmosphere of the keyboard solo. 'Logger's Tale' with the Balkan music side and the neo organ; the vocal mixes in the musical framework leaning towards AOR, then the Orient with bouzouki. The fruity keyboard solo then the guitar on their personal imprint, jazzy vintage prog. 'Noisy Shoes' bucolic atmosphere with the synth violin and the acoustic, a bit of Jethro Tull for the languorous voice, a note of Yes. The violin from the Irish fishing port confirms me in the aforementioned group for the folk tune. Banks' keyboard variation yes Genesis in the background, warm this vintage sound. 'The Hatching' cinematic intro on 'The Wall', electro-latent; it rises to the point that I half understand that we are on an instrumental, singular, fresh; good prog rock that dares the solos linked, guitar, piano then enjoyable guitar, a good effective interlude.

'Miles Away' acoustic arpeggio, a 'Horizons' encore? Country ballad that rises and settles on a Floydian atmosphere for the guitar, neo-prog for the fruity synth, flowing naturally; between Andalusian and South American atmosphere with this wild solo. 'Fly' with the latent computer-piano intro; prog air, jazzy, melodic, a flight of crows in the distance. Floyd hints mixed again, a tune that takes, an easy US rock-type chorus and the tune rises, carried on energetic prog metal, with the beautiful part of the captivating keyboard. 'The King of Dead Men Living' new delicate, melodic and crescendic guitar arpeggio, the voice as a guide. The guitar solo explodes in fits and starts, the sound is restrained and heavy; the voice also comes back chopped, the synth twirls amplifying the rock prog metal sound. 'The Goldfish' as a finale and the oriental intro, which can go as far as Japanese lands; Bernard uses his soft voice, the one that melts. The bouzouki comes back to play the solo, waiting for a potential belly dance; the break on a melting slow tune, on Santana, magnificent, calm and captivating. The sound is old-fashioned, the riff too, the keyboard is searching for itself, on a Focus of time, a Rainbow, giant this keyboard with the sumptuous final riff.

Vintage sound, energetic progressive rock with elaborate variations that sounds fresh. Originally on Progcensor. (3.5)

Someone should tell BERNARD OUELLET that he missed a release in 2014, given that the other 3 from his project KAOS MOON were issued in 1994, 2004, and now 2024. With "The Goldfish", he has gathered only 2 accompanying musicians in contrast to the more audacious productions, the superb "After the Storm" and the less exciting "Circle of Madness", but the signature sound remains a fittingly chaotic yet partially accessible crossover with just a smidgen of the RIO in between the lines.

This is something of a frustrating listen as the "wow" factor is scattered about frugally amongst all tracks, making it hard to pick favorites. In addition, organ is a bit too prevalent and samey sounding. Ouellette would do well to repeat a theme now and then to ram home a point but is instead hell bent on the opposite artifice. Still, his voice hasn't slipped much in 30 years and the vocals and lyrics reveal a facility with English that excuse any political shots from the bow related to his refusal to write and sing in his native French.

The most generally appealing numbers are the at times folky "Loggers Tale" and the epic title cut, but, as I implied above, you might just as easily choose a non intersecting list. This is what makes "The Goldfish" swim in circles a bit to often in between adventurous explorations. Good enough. See you in 30 years according to the mathematical sequence to date.