MEMORY ASHES

With this last album, the monument of french symphonic-spacey rock is back after long muted years. The original line up is re-united for the event. The supreme volunty of unity works almost the same as before. Memory Ashes can be considered as a semi- conceptual album about the aesthetisation of "past time" described as a strenght of revelation in order to escape the eternal return of the self. Memory is an operation that demystify the impotence of nostalgia. I would like to say that this thematic sums up the ambitions of Benjamin, Kafka in their reflexions about history. In fact the music of Pulsar is re-vitalised, constantly changing without breaking out the roots and the essence of their own style. The music is still fresh, spontaneous and creative, including lyrical expressive sequences, subtle meditative vibrations and many more arrangements. Compared to the first offerings of the band, Memory Ashes is much more intuitive, less sophisticated but sometimes equally substantial due to the presence of powerful and warm instrumental leads. The album starts with an eternal, ascendant new agey synthesised magma progressively covered by emotional floating guitar tones, crystal-like piano textures. The atmosphere tends to be mainstream admitting obvious references to the " chanson française". With its gorgeous, aerian and fragile guitar accents, the last part of the long suite delivers some of the most intense moments of the album. Monks is the proggiest and most complex piece you can hear. An astonishing musical hymn dominated by a superb acoustic/ electric guitar duet, suspenseful synth lines, spiritual, religious choir collages, spacious sacred flute lines (...) The ambience is simultaneously tragic and luminous. The track contains some ferocious echoing cosmic guitar leads that are reminiscence to Eloy and Pink Floyd. The track which closes the album is a mellow and delicate moving ballad. To sum up things Memory Ashes is a pleasant musical experience that features charming / touching, deeply serene excursions. Certainly the most intimate album by Pulsar but it contains too discreet proggy and challenging moments to be qualified as a masterpiece of the genre. For those who want to discover their fascinating-enigmatic and propulsive progressive hours their three first efforts remain highly recommended.