LUTUNN NOZ

Primarly a folk guitarist, Bernard Benoit came from Frehel in the Bretagne area and his early career finds him in the line-up of the Folk band Diaouled Ar Menez, at a time when he had already released a first solo effort entitled ''Guitare Celtique''.His experience with Diaouled Ar Menez lasted a couple of years, before pursuing a personal career and in 1975 he returned with a second album on Arion, ''Lutunn Noz''.Benoit plays the guitars and he is accompanied also by Didier De Calan, Tanguis Le Dore and Philippe Le Balp on folk instruments and bass (the last two coming from Diaouled Ar Menez) and Jenika Gaelle on female voices.

The music of Benoit hasn't changed from his early years and, while this album circulates as a Prog Folk release, it is 100% a Breton Folk effort with a very relaxing mood and a generally melancholic instrumental approach.There are lot of acoustic crescendos by the French guitarist with hardly any instrument supporting in a very minimalistic and pastoral enviroment and the style gets soon quite repetitive and boring.Of course there are some better moments with the lovely sound of bombarde, the dreamy bagpipes and the accordeon here and there in richer and more optimistic Celtic-influenced soundscapes, but the overall sound does not actually change any level of energy.Some sporadic female choirs make ''Lutunn Noz'' an even more ethereal listening and propably a great choice for background music.But the album suffers from a similar atmosphere all the way, while the lack of a wider instrumental palette makes it a bit of a sterile effort.

End of story.No Prog Folk here.''Lutunn Noz'' is a crystal-clear, calm and atmospheric, all instrumental Breton Folk work with some things to offer for fans of the style, but nothing more that would make it escape the limited circle of Breton Folk lovers.