Artist : JPL

Album : Sapiens Chapitre 1/3 : Exordium

Release Date : 02-04-2020

Added : 30-05-2020

'JPL' ('Jean-Pierre Louveton') is well known to French progressive rock public because, after 15 years with 'Nemo' and 9 studio albums, he continues to release albums and only a few are on spotify (including the 'Retrospections', the last release of which dates from 2018 - see here). 2020 therefore sees the release of a new album which is the first chapter of an ambitious work : 'Sapiens' or the history of man and this first section 'Exordium' is divided into 3 parts, 'Erectus' which is the advent of man on earth (the titles ‘Mastodontes’, ‘Homo sapiens’ and ‘Ecce homo’), 'Exitium' which is the period of his domination and then the destruction of his ecosystem (titles ‘A condition’ and ‘Le chaud et le froid’) and 'Exodus' which is the terrible observation that his planet is not viable anymore (the titles 'Planète A' and 'Alpha centuri').

Musically, 'Jean-Pierre Louveton' continues to do 'JPL' and we are therefore immersed in a progressive epic which gives pride of place to the instrumental sections which are always very full and always just as imaginative, and this, starting by ‘Mastodontes’, fully instrumental and whose symphonic introduction does not augur something for the much heavier suite with a welcome lull in the second part and a catchy finish which do of this title a remarkable introduction to the album, then, 'Homo sapiens' tumbles with melodic lines easy to memorize and refers to the French progressive rock groups with in mind 'Ange' (see their last album here) and 'Ecce Homo', fully instrumental, ends the first part of 'Erectus' and starts more calmly to gain momentum to finish with the theme of ‘Mastodontes’ : the circle is complete, man can then begin his disastrous drawing of damaging the planet. 'Exitium' begins with 'A condition', with a text which criticizes the headlong rush of man to conquer every corner of the planet and take power at all costs with a sung first part which leaves place in the second half of the title to a very beautiful guitar solo in crescendo and a short sung section and which has an instrumental finale which accelerates the rhythm, then, 'Le chaud et le froid' which is the longest title of the album contains a remarkable central instrumental part which is sandwiched by a beautiful melody on which Jean-Pierre poses words of acerbic criticism on the misdeeds of man with a remarkable end of title with the participation of a children's choir. And it is with the two titles of 'Exodus' that the album ends : first of all, 'Planète A' which begins with a fairly calm sung part, while continuing to denounce the men who have arrived at a inevitable end, then Jean-Pierre gratifies us with a remarkable guitar solo which is followed by a sung section taking more and more amplitude with organ tones bringing an imposing atmosphere which falls back with a few notes of keyboards; then it is the turn of 'Alpha centuri' which begins energetically with an instrumental section with a solo of keyboards alternating jazzy and rock accents of 'Guillaume Fontaine' and 'Jean-Pierre Louveton' follows with a guitar solo which gives way to the sung part with excessively pessimistic lyrics which proclaim that it is too late to save the earth and with a heady instrumental finale repeating the same musical sentence.

In summary, this first part of the announced trilogy of 'Jean-Pierre Louveteau' is a remarkable introduction which should appeal to any amateur and any progressive amateur who likes the alternation between the sung and instrumental parts and the relatively accessible melodies and we hope that Jean-Pierre will released soon the next chapter, especially if it is of the same quality as 'Exordium'...

Line Up / Musicians

Jean-Pierre Louveton (Vocal, Guitar, Bass), Jean Baptiste Itier (Drums) + Guests : Florent Ville (Drums), Guillaume Fontaine (Keybords), Marguerite Miallier (Vielle à roue), Stéphanie Vouillot (Piano)