IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DEATH

With plenty of recording experience behind him, Gramond has gone many places with his music. While some of these haven't worked out for him so well, time has seen the work of Sébastien Gramond improve steadily, and only become more complete. An issue I've had with the man's work in the past has been that some of his albums feel far too over the place in terms of style, so it comes as a surprise that I like his 2009 output 'It's A Beautiful Death' so much. An incredibly long album composed of sixteen tracks scattered over many genres may not have worked for Gramond in the past, but here, somehow it works very well.

When I speak of diversity in Sébastien Gramond's music here, it is of no exaggeration. The first song is a beautiful acoustic love song ('From My Heart To Your Ears') and this is followed by Zappa-esque prog and even a straight up hard rock song about Gramond's lovely dog, in the style of AC/DC. Then of course, there are the jazz, psychedelic, blues and a score of other influences that shine through here. Suffice to say, 'It's A Beautiful Death' keeps the listener on their toes, and at the sacrifice of album flow, the listener is given an incredible amount of variety to choose from.

Something that's particularly impressed me with Gramond here is his use of the acoustic guitar. Something I haven't heard him do very much in the past, he is able to arrange multiple parts with the acoustic guitar incredibly well, as may be best depicted in one of my favourites from the album; 'Transcendental Ways'. In fact, the acoustic guitars here make up some of the most beautiful work the album can offer. Another note on the performances here is Gramond's voice itself, which I remember finding very amateurish with 'Pell Mell' and the other albums that first introduced me to Gramond. Here, he still does not have a technically accomplished voice on him, but he manages to carry it much better, even crafting some effective harmonies while he's at it.

With fifteen minute jams like the apparently 'accidentally' recorded fusion jam at the end, the album certainly can feel a bit long-winded and may have been more effective, had the best material been compiled onto one album instead of letting a double album's worth a material through. What can I say though, except that 'It's A Beautiful Death' is possibly my favourite Gramond album I have thus heard. One of the strongest things the eccentric Frenchman has composed to date.

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