This was a very enjoyable listen. I loved those pastoral, atmospheric melodies beautifully expressed with different instruments constantly dancing with each other, like acoustic guitar, flute, saxophone, mellotron, piano. The end result is very successful in evoking different seasons and the out of time fifth season culminating in the last 17 min long track which I can best describe as being timeless.
The first song
Vert represents spring and is my favorite right behind the epic fifth track. It opens with a dreamy flute sound that is quickly accompanied by acoustic guitar and a very chanson-like male voice. Actually the whole song reminds me of French chansons, but the instrumentation going from dreamy to more uplifting is perfect in generating a sense of awakening that comes with spring. If I could describe these mellow and optimistic sounds in visual terms I would call them pastel.
Dixie is a happy, uplifting song, very fast compared to other tracks and as such evokes the care free summertime. Towards the end it turns itself into a real Dixieland song. Among other stronger and more memorable tracks I can’t help but think of this song as an intermezzo.
Depuis L'Automne is another strong, atmospheric song. It starts like a nice folk ballad, but then around the fourth minute, led by floating mellotron sounds, transforms itself into an intricate, moody piece of music beautifully expressed through interplay of guitar and saxophone which especially injects this whole composition with that special kind of sorrow, autumn time. It all ends with mellotron producing some threatening, but enchanting sounds leading into winter.
This winter song,
En Pleine Face, surprised me the most. After such a strong autumn song perfectly setting the mood for winter I expected to venture into the sleepy, frozen world, dangerous in its cold beauty. Instead I got a pretty little song, quite an optimistic ballad, but also introspective in some parts. I haven’t really explored the lyrics, maybe that’s where the winter theme really comes through, but judging by the music alone, this song feels like winter observed from the inside of a warm, cozy home.
And then there's
Histoires Sans Paroles, the fifth season, escaping the inevitability of a cycle, breaking a circle, but at the same time encompassing all four seasons and elevating this album to the heights I didn't quite predict when I started listening. It's one of those mini-masterpieces that are enough for me to give this album bigger rating than I intended to. It has everything I heard in previous tracks and more, but transformed and inspired with a unifying idea that makes the progression of different themes so compelling. This composition is a 17 min long epic, but I can't quite say if it feels longer or shorter than that. It feels timeless. And I can't quite call it epic, because it flows with such a natural ease. For all the intricate interplay of sounds, for all the changing and returning of different themes, there's a sense of lightness everywhere, the changes are done so seamlessly you don't even notice. It's airy. Excellent!
Because of this last track this album gets a very good rating from me, although Histoires Sans Paroles is brilliant.
PS: And now I've seen there's already a different album for this week and the voting for next week is over. This is going too fast for me
Harmonium - Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison (1975)
Don't worry, though. There's no time limit for when you can add to a discussion, so of course you are free to do things in whatever tempo you want!
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