VEUILLEZ PROCÉDER

Veuillez Procéder is an album that keeps you guessing, from a band of multi-instrumentalists who aim to absorb and crystallize a wide array of experimental prog styles. If you only have a chance to listen to one song from it, make it track two: "Nostradamus L'Avait Prédit" ("Nostradamus has predicted it") starts off as a mellow jazzy violin boogie which then quickly gains speed and intensity, turning into a jazz-rocking showcase for keyboard player Simon Lapointe's near-atonal piano chops, before settling down again and ending in a baroque-ish fugue with all the instruments playing different interlocking parts, like a more complicated version of Gentle Giant's musical jigsaw puzzles.

Individual elements from this one tour de force are explored further on the rest of the album. "L'Occupation" and the beautifully intricate "Flocons De Son" go even further in on the baroque vibe: here, the band lays down their rock instruments and instead jams out on violin, piano, trumpet and mandolin in an AltrOck-esque chamber prog style. On the other hand, "Teuteuta" and the lengthy, chaotic "Névréalité Postparapsychophysiologique" venture more into jazz fusion territory, with the latter especially serving for the most part as a launchboard for fascinating, aggressive guitar and piano solos on top of a riff in an uneven meter. And interspersed between all of these songs is a series of free improvisations which focus on percussive and mostly non-tonal extended techniques ("Bond Précisionnel").

While the album isn't free from filler, this band delivers when they're in form and the overall experience is a highly positive one. This is a must-listen for avant-prog aficionados.