PLUCK UP THE RULES

In what was apparently quite a poor phase for French composer Sébastien Gramond, the man turned to a brief electronic era to bridge the gap between better times. As a result of issues in his personal life, Gramond was forced to drop the act of recording with instruments, but as dedicated and prolific an artist as Gramond is, it would have been nearly impossible to put a hold on music. With what he had at his disposal then, he created a few albums that have since turned out to clearly be his worst. With a less-than-desirable experience with the potentially infamous 'Words And Music For Supermarket Elevators' and the somewhat promising but random and unstable 'Cosmic Line Wayfaring', 'Pluck Up The Rules' feels like a cross between these two albums, featuring lifeless electronics, no standout tracks, a hint of potential here and there, and an utter lack of album flow.

While certainly better than 'Supermarket Elevators' on a musical level, the album faces the same problem with album structure that plagued 'Cosmic Line Wayfaring'. With the exception of the first track, each song here can essentially be described as a musical experiment, generally not going much farther past two minutes in length. With this in mind, no musical idea is warranted the amount of time it might have needed to really mature and reach its potential. Unfortunately, few of these musical ideas are very good to begin with. While there are some interesting, proggy things going on here and there that can often be associated with the sound of Frank Zappa, the bulk of the music itself lacks any real melody, tact or particularly good use of electronics.

While this album is certainly among the weakest I have yet heard from Sébastien Gramond, there are moments where it does show promise. 'Suspicion' comes to look like it could turn into a strong prog rock track at the beginning, but it ultimately chooses not to go anywhere with the sound, instead trailing off after the primary musical idea becomes exhausted.

Quite a poor album, but luckily only one of the few albums in Sébastien Gramond's discography that lacks substantial merit.