AN HEOL A ZO GLAZ/LE SOLEIL EST VERT

Nine years after their debut album, Tri Yann release their sixth opus and show how mature the band has become. All the band's different styles are there : the traditional song ("Guerre Guerre Vente Vent", very similar to their 1974 hit "Pelot D'Hennebont"), the medieval ballad ("Si Mors A Mors", dedicated to the memory of the duchess Anne de Bretagne), but also "Le Grand Bal De Kermaria An Isquit" with its delicious little flute danse), the instrumental suite made of several traditional Irish or Scottish tunes put together ("Suite Ecossaise"), the Breton song turned into a fast paced rock'n'roll number ("Au Jardin De Mon Père"), and all that on side A !

Side B's what makes of "An Heol A Zo Glaz" the proggiest of Tri Yann albums : a 22 minute epic suite mixing traditional tunes and compositions, with added meaningful (and even political) lyrics in Breton (written by Pierre-Jakez Helias, a very famous Breton writer and poet). In the whole of Tri Yann's career, it's the first and only attempt at the prog epic, and the result is superb.

"An Heol A Zo Glaz" (which, by the way, doesn't exactly mean "The Sun Is Green" - Glaz can sometimes be translated as 'blue' or even 'grey') is undoubtedly one of Tri Yann's best albums and can be a very good choice for those willing to discover the band's work.