NEBELNEST

Sad to say, not super available digitally... This is the self-titled debut by this French Avant-Prog band. I mean, personally I love the quirky capitalization choices: NeBeLNeST. The potential influence of Zeuhl has been mentioned and I find that to be incredibly apparent.

On our opening track, "Improv: Pooks (I. Part One)" we have a jazzy ethereal drive. Full speed ahead! The keys are spacy and strange and dissonant, in part, but the most notable piece is the drums... "Psykial Trysm (I. Shafoo)" is our next track. Just as forward-driving, the sonic choices of the guitar are so tasty, I can't even tell you. In its midsection, much falls away. It is so spacy to a creepy degree [You'll be hearing this sentiment quite a bit here]. I can't but help to think it's utterly film-ready. This section lasts clear from the middle until the final minute. We are then back in fullness. The keyboards!!! Wow. Nice organ sound, reminiscent in the end of Soft Machine's Mike Ratledge. Then we have "Psykial Trysm (II. Nahja)"... The synth tone eerily floats downward and then begins to fluctuate back up and back down as the rest of the band enters in. Very psychedelic this'n. Around minute 2 there is a slight rhythmic shift. It really does sound like Soft Machine here to me. Then the drums pick the beat up rapidly. The lead guitar takes us into an Eastern sound modally. A different kind of dynamic than the two before.

The first of our two 9-minute mini-epics, "Etude De Shimshot" is eerie and wavering in its frontend. The hovering, piercing guitar sounds a bit like Fripp. The Avant is in fuller effect here. It just feels like a really nice mix of progressive idioms (from Jazz-Prog to Avant-Rock to Zeuhl to Space Rock). The whole of the song is a play on what appears to be a singular theme, driven throughout by the ever beefy bass. then we have "Improv: Uncertain Journey". I love whatever effect they have on the guitar here in the start. Reminds me of Tera Melos' Nick Reinhart! It takes about two minutes to really get into things. The keys morph in and out with the guitar. A lot of talent. A lot of understanding in their respective mediums. More Eastern-sounding vibes here. Up next, "Solilock" comes with drumming that reminds me of Bruford (I just saw a clip that Bill uploaded online from Rock Goes To College haha). This song features a great theme, played on the keys. They are just goin' on this one; a slight cacophony toward the end. A sure highlight!

Then we have our second sort of mini-epic, "Absinthe", a lower, slower number with rolling bass, more of those wide open organs from before. This song does call more Zeuhl to mind. Only in the best ways. The rhythm just drives the songs forward, as drums are bashed and all else is to match. All falls away to an eerie synth padding with light acoustic guitars. The instrumentation enters in full with some mellotron and more lead guitar. The Ratledge-esque organ continues then in a wild fashion to match the rapidly plucked guitar. The song's final moments sonically lower down, continuing on with a different groove. The dissonance returns. And I'm thankful for that. Next, "Crab Nebula", the actual nebula appearing on the front cover, starts queer yet cleanly played. Fitting for a band so into the spacy and ethereal. This track has an awesome beat, too. Have I mentioned how much I love all of the instrumentation. What I'm loving here, as I approach the end, is just how damn consistent this album has been. The low points are all still quite good. A ton of talent and compositional knack to be found here. Finally, we have "Improv: Pooks (II. Part Two)". This beginning is something... Very creepy in the synth department, the rhythm section slams on the... purportedly proper times. This is followed by some jazzy drumming over some absolutely wild Avant-Jazz. I love the keyboards; sounds like a little electric saxophone haha. When this song is on, it is on. "Improv" sounds right. Just feels like a jam. And with that, it's a tad less focused, but still good.

And with that... That's it! Great album!