And now for something a little bit different… It’s time to shuffle the deck and pick some cards from the Minor and the Major Arcana of musician Jeff Grimal, formerly of The Great Old Ones. Fate is very much in the hands of the listener of what they will get out of this but the Spectrale that haunts will not summon up nasty Lovecraftian beasties, you are in somewhat safer hands here. Jeff has after debut album Triangle gathered together a new core of musicians and the instruments they play will give an idea just what to expect here being classical and acoustic guitar, traditional drums, percussion, keyboards and cello. The canvas crafted is acoustic and nearly all instrumental, it is on the whole chilled and gentle. As for the tarot references, they are evident to anyone with a smattering of French understanding translating titles into the cards themselves such as The Empress, The Hanged Man, The Priestess, The Moon and The Sun.
I really enjoyed the last album; it obviously contained a classical sound as well as one that took in folk and what can only be termed as rural Americana, although perhaps more traditional in a French respect as this type of music is not hampered by any real geographical limits. The 47-minute follow up contains work that clearly carries on from the debut, the beginning Ouverture setting the scene with the cello stirring the imagination as it slowly ebbs in; the fluttering of ghosts brought back to haunt its sorrowful domain. We move from sounds that more adventurous musicologists may well associate with the likes of Jo Quail to the plucked acoustic fare of Le Soleil as the sun beams down on a new day. Although mellow and chilled Grimnal and cohorts unveil a wide vista here that has ties to many dabblers in post-rock sound expanding from humble beginnings into a cinematographic journey; not so much Americana as National Geographic as it touches on a myriad of flavours along the way. The folk etched jangle of ‘L ‘Impératrice’ is jaunty and somewhat more light-hearted as classical guitar is made to literally frolic, the cello scrying in the background and thick bass like tones from the acoustic guitar. At times the music is delicate and solo parts are easily identifiable. The pizzicato plucking of ‘Le Jugement’ taking one off on a short trip outside the head as its near music box melody develops into a theme of almost childhood delight and innocence at the sounds flowing from the speakers. The musicians make their instruments, cry and sing, whether in tears or delight I am not quite so sure, both hang over the moods and emotions. One thing is certain for those that are willing to give it a try, the music will captivate.
As mentioned, this is nearly all instrumental, the last album had some almost Beach Boy sounding vocal harmonics but here attention will no-doubt be directed toward Le Bateleur which features the vocals of Laure Le Prunenec of Igorrr, Corpo-Mente, Öxxö Xööx & Rïcïnn. This musically reminds of the track from the last album that captivated me so much ‘Magellan’ but with the strident chanteuse vocals it is taken to a completely different and somewhat darker dimension and resembles a particularly experimental Diamanda Galas work. As La Lune comes out to cast cold light the thick furrows from the strummed instruments and drums have an almost Krautrock backbone about them and I also pick up vibes of a band like Dornenreich. When one hears mention of classical guitar first thought may well be Julian Bream which could well be a reason not to listen but Spectrale have proven to be much more in the world many of us dwell than his. Just to emphasise this point last track La Papesse envisions further experimentation to come being progressively flavoured with even a touch of Goblin about it to my ears.
The other thing that should be mentioned is the gorgeous blue designed artwork on the card digipack release, totally corresponding to the golden hues of the debut and also created by Grimnal. Look out for a special limited edition of 140 with specially designed tarot cards too.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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