CE TRÈS CHER SERGE - SPÉCIAL ORIGINES

While I don't think that this album matches the magic of their most recent release "A L'Amitie", it still casts a spell over this fan. This French trio are helped out by nine guests adding vocals, viola, violin, trumpet, flute, clarinet, organ and guitar. The latter by the way from Makoto Kawabata from ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE. Man this one grew on me a lot as it took a while for it to unfold it's mysteries. Once again we get plenty of intricate and repetitive sounds and those understated vocals. This is very French sounding and I love their sound.

Part of what took me a while to get into this album was the opening track called "La Genese" as we get laid back multi-vocals only and nothing else. Thankfully it's short at under 1 1/2 minutes. But yes this is called getting off on the wrong foot. "Un Soir Tempete" is the guitar/ drum show to start but then some very prominent bass lines arrive as it turns avant sounding, vocals follow as the avant vibe continues. We now get a run of some great sounding tracks starting with "Errance". Percussion leads early on as this repetitive melody slowly builds as the bass then horns then vocals eventually join in. Check out the horns late. Nice. "Ce Cher Serge Est Perdu" opens with what sounds like strummed bass as a beat and more joins in. Catchy stuff as the vocals arrive after a minute. Such a cool track. "Un Monde Englouti" is similar to the previous tune, at least the melody seems to be. This one has more of a psychedelic style and it becomes much more experimental when the vocals stop after a minute. This is so interesting to listen to. Horns after 2 minutes as spoken words come and go.

"Es Algues" is powerful with some screaming guitar. "Vers Le Neant" opens with intricate sounds as the vocals arrive briefly then we hear water sounds. Flute follows in this laid back start. An almost native vibe with the chanting and drums before 2 minutes but it's brief. A relaxed tune overall. "Visions" is by far the longest track at over 11 minutes. Piano and violin to start. A slow beat takes over 1 1/2 minutes in then the piano and strings return. It's building very slowly then bass joins in after 4 minutes along with some guitar expressions. It turns somewhat spacey after 6 minutes and the vocals join in as well. This is good! Love the spacey synths and sound. A change before 9 minutes with some interesting guitar as the bass and drums continue. "Retrouvailles" ends it and this is different from the rest as it brings to mind Brian Eno solo as in "Another Green World". Strummed guitar, horns and multi-vocals with plenty of energy.

I feel this is well worth the 4 stars despite paling somewhat to their 2014 release. This is a band that certainly has a sound that I can't help but appreciate in a major way.