After the two very good studio recordings 'Curve .Axis.Symmetry' in 2020 and the covers of 'Gostraks' in 2022, the French trio of 'Lunear' continues its cruising speed of an album every two years with a new opus 'From Above' released a few weeks ago. Before getting to the heart of the matter, I would like to say that this album is magnificent but that it does not have the response on the internet as it deserves because, apart from the review on the French 'Progcritique' site, articles concerning 'From Above' are quite rare.
And yet, I found myself a few decades back when the pioneers of the genre offered us long developments which, at the time, took up an entire side of a vinyl. For my part, in my memory are grafted the discoveries of the first 'Pink Floyd' with 'Echoes' from the album 'Meddle' or 'Atom Heart Mother' and the first title of 'From Above' corresponds very well to these large formats that I played over and over to discover a new detail each time I listened to it. Indeed, the 25 minutes of 'In Their Eyes' are an extraordinary progressive saga which takes us through numerous changes of atmosphere and rhythm throughout the 5 parts of this long title. In addition, everything has been done to offer us fairly immediate accessibility thanks to melodic lines which delicately caress our senses. After this imposing musical block, even if its duration is only close to 10 minutes (sorry for the short time!), 'Cathedral' also develops a remarkable progressive construction, the first half being mainly sung and the second part offering beautiful instrumental passages in a very pleasant atmospheric atmosphere. And for this album to have its single in radio format, the French from 'Lunear' offer us 'So Let's Go', a magnificent pop ballad that you can view on YouTube above. The album ends in style with 'The Tears of Nostalgia' which is palpably emotional and which, after four minutes of delicate sung acoustic ambience, develops a striking crescendo which continues with an epic and intense instrumental section to fall back into a piano/voice duet then guitar/voice and finally evaporate gently in a few whistles and a few crackles: simply beautiful!
In summary, the French from 'Lunear' are releasing a magnificent album which has revived in me memories of pioneers of progressive and if you are a fan of this timeless style which was born at the end of the 60s, you should undoubtedly appreciate 'From Above' which benefits from sumptuous instrumental and vocal arrangements and remarkable production and which, for my part, entered directly into my ideal discotheque of progressive albums... | |
