My personal love affair with medieval music started literally in the crib, as both harpsichord and ‘la Chanson de Roland’ became partners with my diapers and baby bottle, and ensconced themselves in my sonic psyche, forevermore. This quintessential French prog band has had a long and elegant career, led by the Payssan brothers, Jean-Luc and Thierry. All their albums are eloquent displays but perhaps this is their crowning achievement. After all the release is called Kingdom. The cover art is stupendous.
A dozen compact and intricate tableaux that combine the past, present and even the future ,as I intend to fully rediscover this release over the next coming years. The musicianship is as always highly elaborate both vocally and instrumentally with blazing configurations that often skirt the outer edges of manic delirium, the patented troubadour bass of Eric Rebeyrol dancing around the torch-lit banquet hall, guitarist Jean-Luc plastering the stone walls with glittering salvos of electric cannon fodder, keyboards garnishing the massive wood table arrangements with an buffet of ivory sonorities and drummer Charly Berna flailing away on his percussive arsenal. Throw in some guest violin and flute and the masked ball is complete. Both brothers skillfully handle the various vocal choirs that come across as chants rather than conventional singing, behaving as a supplementary instrument to enhance even more human effect.
Minimum Vital’s style is an amalgamation of boisterous, excited, cheery, and often rapid riffs, sudden crescendos and solo spots that never linger, a clear musical tapestry worthy of Bayeux. The first three tracks set the stage of some entertaining discoveries that should be listened to as if in a concert setting, eyes closed, letting the imagination run free. Its never boring or even repetitive, as the constant experimentation with other instruments such as Eric’s trumpet blasts on “Cadences” and Thierry wielding the ‘metallophone’ (a percussion idiophone, like the Indonesian gamelan) keeping the atmosphere thrilling, resonant and expansive. The lute and mandolin also provide some insane elation, as on the stellar “Las Estrellas”, where the savage synthesizer solos dare the various string instruments to bravely kick it up a notch, the guitars, bass and violin joining in the cavalry charge. A stunning piece of magic. “Berry Oak “ has a decidedly Celtic /Breton tinge which bodes well for a jig-like impression that impregnates the soul, that is maintained by the gently pastoral, vocally soothing “Yan dele Son”, an acoustic diversion which is sheer and unadulterated fun, a time travel trip into the Middle Ages.
Appearing out of absolutely nowhere ,“Godzilla” may appear to be a flirtation with modernity , but it’s all about having a good time, and nothing is ever going to surpass that fictional giant reptilian monster that terrorized the Japanese islands . It’s almost needless to state that this is a sci-fi interpretation that has the band enjoying themselves and entertaining us , a little pop culture intermezzo cannot hurt ! The sonic splendour displayed on the brief “Farewell” shifts back to knights in shining armor, valiantly heading off to battle.
A couple of medieval dance tracks (or drawbridge, moat and dungeon disco, if you like) are absolute highlights, the band showing their mastery of tingling exercises in sonic chemistry, the velocity beyond mere horsepower, the sophistication of atmosphere off the charts and daring even to inject some surely ribald laughter into the complex theatrics, as on “Danse Cornue”, each instrument talking its way into the overall hectic conversation, its truly adrenaline-charged and unrelenting stuff that would stand out in any musical collection, as there is no other band that does this as well, perhaps the Morrigan or Colin Masson !
The final curtain is drawn on “Galadriel a Manhattan”, bridging the distant past Tolkien-era mythology with modern times, an interesting concept. The mightiest and fairest of all the elves travelling through a time tunnel and arriving into New York city, unannounced. Knowing the locals, the vast majority wouldn’t even bother noticing . Galadriel’s reaction would be surely a ball of utter confusion and disbelief. The overall sound is deliberately more urban while still keeping the Middle Earth tonalities intact, the screeching synths doing some traffic-jam spurts that would boggle the mind of all Bronx cab drivers.
If you seek something way beyond this ho-hum, semi-artificial world, check out these REAL musicians doing their craft perfect justice. You can thank me later.
4.5 bare essentials