CEUX D'EN FACE

A talented French multi-instrumentalist from Lyon,Francois Thollot is strongly influenced by Classic 70's Prog as well as legendary figures of Zeuhl and Fusion music like Christian Vander (Magma) and Daniel Denis (Univers Zero, Arkham, Present, Art Zoyd).With his unique talent and music knowledge as his only weapons Thollot proceeded to the recordings of a solo album between January and September of 2000,which were picked up and treated by Alain Lebon,the mastermind behind the specialized French Zeuhl label Soleil Zeuhl.The debut of Thollot ''Ceux d'en face'' was finally released in 2002.

Handling all guitars, bass, piano and drums on the album,Thollot suggests a good mix of Zeuhl, Jazz-Fusion and dark KING CRIMSON-esque Progressive Rock in his first work.With the help of Lebon's very good work on production,the album offers seven pieces of haunting and dreamy Fusion filled with complex passages, disharmonies and light breaks, swirling around Thollot's complicated bass lines and his GOBLIN-styled work on piano.His guitar work, being quite jazzy in nature, has a strong FRIPP-ian influence and his drumming remains strong and confident along the way.All compositions do not escape from this general rule and are very tight and well-performed, especially considering that there is just one man performing them.However Thollot's ideas have not something new to offer, his influence from the Zeuhl masters aforementioned is more than evident, but his talent allows him to deliver eventually some fine musicianship in the style.

Good mid-tempo Zeuhl-Fusion and an album strongly recommended to lovers of the style but also a good proposal to anyone willing to taste or being intoduced the lighter side of Zeuhl.