01

SCHERZOO is the second coming of multi-instrumentalist François Thollot who released a couple solo albums before starting this band in 2009 in Lyon, France and to date has released five albums where his duties vary as to which instrument he performs. He is the only constant member across the band's canon. While firmly planted in the school of zeuhl where he got a degree at Kobaia University, SCHERZOO exhibits a much more expansive approach than your typical Magma worshipper. Thollot is notorious in the prog underground as a savvy fusionist of all things zeuhl / jazz fusion / Canterbury / RIO / avant-prog and that's exactly what is displayed on the first SCHERZOO album simply titled 01 (the following albums are titled accordingly with a numbering system).

As far as the band name goes i'm not sure if it refers to the Stravisnky composition "Scherzo," the term which means a short composition only with an extra "o" or the Italian word "scherzo" which means "joke" or jest." Maybe none of the above! While the zeuhl elements are distinctly present in this all instrumental procession of six tracks that almost hit the 57-minute mark which includes the sprawling 19-minute plus closer "Voyage Au Bout De La Nuit," the album often jumps into moments of Present-like avant-prog and also leaps into the world of jazz-fusion but more often than not all these elements which include some of those warm Canterbury tones conspire to make a knotty frat party of all of the above making SCHERZOO's approach sound fairly unique.

This debut finds mostly new material that Thollot composed for the band however the two tracks "Ceux D'en Face" and "Enilek" were rewritten and rerecorded after appearing on Thollot's debut release "Ceux D'En Face" which was released in 2002. This lineup features François Thollot (composer, drums), Guillaume Lagache (saxophone), François Mignot (guitar), Anthony Béard (bass guitar) and Jérémy Van Quackebeke (piano) all of whom effortlessly navigate the hairpin turns and knotty compositions crafted by Thollot that can evoke mellow Canterbury jazz motifs or suddenly jump into guitar heavy moments of classic King Crimson or Anekdoten only brought to order by the martial bass thumping that keeps a zeuhl underpinning. The music is generally dark and brooding much like early Univers Zero or Present.

The music on 01 is definitely a difficult music adventure where the band lulls you into a lengthy improv session of RIO, jazz fusion or zeuhl but can suddenly erupt into a totally different soundscape and then carry on for minutes at at time. Composed somewhat of a classical nature where cadences and motifs are constructed and then fortified with a series of variations with the scales and stylistic effect coming out of the RIO playbook. Zeuhl rhythms keep it all from spiraling out of control and the presence of the saxophone and moments of escapism into the world of jazz and fusion keep the darkness from totally taking over the soundscape. SCHERZOO found its own distinct style right off the bat however the two solo albums of Thollot proved to serve as the warming up sessions which led to this band. A pretty decent debut if you like the world of dark, complex and filled with avant-angularities.