GRAAL

Graal biography
This folk-prog male/female duo from the South of France will no doubt remind the listener of the COCTEAU TWINS. Keyboard player and vocalist Mina De Vertolaye is of French-Italian origin whereas her male counterpart, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Hoan Laflamme, was born of a Swiss mother and a Vietnamese father but grew up in Zurich. Perhaps it is the combination these multi-ethnic backgrounds that explains the eclecticism of their music: a mix of beautiful, soothing Celtic/Arabic folk melodies and baroque psychedelic sounds à la ASH RA TEMPEL or POPOL VUH.

Their only album, "Secrets of Now" (97) unites the ethereal vocals of Mina with Hoan's own deep voice over a blend of acoustic and electric instrumentation (guitar, mandoline, sitar, bamboo flute, bass, percussion, samplers and keyboards). This combination of exquisite and refined melodies with glaring psychedelia gives their material an almost unsettling dimension.

Recommended for fans of the COCTEAU TWINS and for folk-prog buffs looking for something unconventional.

: : : Lise (HIBOU), CANADA : : :