(SUITE)

JUSTINE were a four piece, all-girl band from Montreal who released two albums in the 90's. "Suite" is their debut from 1990. Led by sax/vocalist Joane Hetu this is an incredibly adventerous album where Joane offers up some chalk board scratching-like vocals and sax. Man the sax is so dissonant, but the vocals?! All four girls sing, plus we have a sax, keyboard, bass, drum setup. They arose from the ashes of WONDEUR BRASS who also released only two studio albums. That band were a six piece(all girls) on their debut from 1985 with three horn players and guitar.

You now know why they had the "Brass" in their band name with all those horns. Although their second and final release from 1987 features the exact same four piece lineup that would follow when they changed their name to JUSTINE. Why the change of band's name? Well, less brass with the sax only, but also this is far more crazy and avant. They let it all out here folks. This is their vehicle to go far into that avant style. Some mention MIRIODOR, some ETRON FOU LELOUBLAN, regardless, this band is unique. The picture here for their bio is actually of the band WONDEUR BRASS as we can see all six girls, it's not JUSTINE, just sayin'.

I get such a blast out of this album, and while it goes too far into the abyss of the avant-garde, I can't help but be enthusiastically impressed. Oh, and we get Zeena Parkins guesting, playing electric harp on the opener. She was in NEWS FROM BABEL prior to this, and would go on to play with COSA BRAVA and many more bands. My top three includes "Nous En Avons" my favourite with that determined sound as drums, sax and vocals lead the way. "J'ai Perdu Le Temps" is great as well with those pulsating sounds and beats. Catchy with some interesting ideas, especially concerning the vocals. Also "L'arbre" makes my top three. She almost yells the vocals here as the drums pound away. Organ and more follows. She gets pretty theatrical before 2 minutes.

It is pretty amazing the prog scene that Quebec could boast about in the seventies. Well, it didn't end there, that's for sure. One of my favourite albums from 1990, but yes that was a weak year for my music.