L'HEPTADE

Following the highly successful release of "Si on Avait Besoin D'une Cinquiene Saisons" , HARMONIUM sat out to record their most musically involved and challenging album. "L'Heptade" is a multi-disc concept album based around the melancholic atmosphere of the seven states of consciousness of life as depicted through a daily newspaper. The end result is a wonderful mixture of HARMONIUM's traditional folk- prog with a heavy dose of symphonic brush strokes. This album is often criticized for having been a tad too long and perhaps having lost some focus all of which I can note subscribe to. In sharp contrast, I love the wondering melodies and aimlessness in parts of the album and find it very musically seductive. HARMONIUM have always had a way of reeling me into their music and this album may be in fact my favourite of the lot. This was the last studio album by HARMONIUM and cast member Michel Normandeau left before this project was completed. Drummer Denis Farmer, flutist Libert Subirana, guitarist Robert Stanley, and vocalist/second keyboardist Monique Fauteux were recruited. As well Neil Chotem was brought in to compose and arrange orchestral bridges between the songs. The end result is a gentle yet mind numbing album full of some wonderful melodies and instrumentation.