PREMIÈRES VIBRATIONS

Guitarist Mathieu Torres and keyboardist/pianist Stephanie Artaud have been playing together long before forming La Theorie Des Cordes.Their first band was Pilgue & Nus and later they also formed the Prog/Grunge/Post-Punk combo The Post Modern Watchers.But in 2009 they gave birth to their most serious attempt, La Theorie Des Cordes, recruiting drummer Tadzio Gottberg.They debuted two years later on Musea Parallele with ''Premieres vibrations'', their music contains no bass lines at all, except for one track, played by guest Maxime Jaslier, who also provided some sax in another composition.

This is all instrumental Jazz Rock with proggy and Heavy Rock leanings with the band citing ALLAN HOLDSWORTH, Canterbury acts such as SOFT MACHINE, CARAVAN and GONG as well as FRANK ZAPPA as their main influences.I do not hear much of a Canterbury taste throughout the album, which still remains a technically delicate experience throughout.The music ranges from soft, piano-based themes with supporting jazzy guitar moves to more sharp material with electrified atmospheres and some impressive soloing in the guitar, which has definitely a slight ALLAN HOLDSWORTH edge.Despite the limited instrumentation, the guys here keep a good balance between atmospheric soundscapes with a spacey background, dense and angular Fusion instrumentals and mellow, almost melodious themes with light guitar/piano interactions.Influences also go as far as Latin Jazz Fusion with ''Le bas art de l'epouvante'' having some sort of Andalusian color in the process, combined with more dramatic, jazzy interludes.Maybe a more pronounced sax addition resulted a better effort with ''Reves premonitoires'' being a nice piece of Jazz-influenced Rock with lots of great guitar, piano and sax lines.Even so, the trio performs in a variety of tempos and moods, bursting some beautiful and versatile instrumental ideas.

Balanced Jazz Fusion with a modern vibe.Kudos to the guys of La Theorie Des Cordes, who managed to deliver atmospherically diverse music, while basically performing only on guitar, piano and drums.Recommended.