With a career going
back over 30 years, French-Canadian band Miriodor
have carved out an instantly recognisable sound that straddles avant rock and
jazz, and in the process have become stalwarts of the Rock In Opposition scene.
Hey! All you trad-prog fans; don’t let that put you off, for Miriodor’s sound is
accessible, playful, and rarely ventures down wilfully dark and obscure alleys
for the sake of it, as some bands of this genre have been known to do. This
album is anything but pretentious, and is a good place to start with RIO if
you’re thinking of dipping a toe or three into what can be choppy and
shark-infested waters.
Released last September, Cobra Fakir, is only their eighth album
in all those years, as great care is taken crafting the intricate splendours
they occasionally unleash onto a largely ignorant world. The last album, the
utterly splendid Avanti!, came out
way back in 2009.
Cobra Fakir, or “Snake Charmer”, is a
suitably hypnotic and involving album that sees the band revert to a trio.
Original member Pascal Globensky (keyboards,
synths, piano) and the soon to follow Rémi
Leclerc (drums, percussion, keyboards, turntable) are joined by Bernard Falaise (guitars, bass,
keyboards, banjo, turntable), who has been with the band a mere 20 years.
Belying its
seemingly highly structured sonics, the album was mostly written on the hoof,
starting from vague ideas and recorded improvisations. The end result is a
million miles away from the chaos that might have resulted, and is testament to
the players’ long experience.
After the subtle but deceptively complicated La roue rolls down the hill we are
straight into the longest piece on the album, the title track. Beginning
innocuously enough with a keyboard and guitar theme, the song unwinds slowly
into a more agitated second segment, Univers
Zero with a lighter touch. One can hear Henry Cow’s more accessible melodic structures in here, too. The
tune winds on with some fabulous and tricky interplay, the rhythm section
keeping things in strict control.
The three keyboards in the line up prevents any “star”
turns, as it’s not possible to say who is playing what, especially as I only
have a download and therefore no CD booklet to guide me, although it is likely
the more up front keyboard parts are Pascal’s. In any case there is no soloing
as such, everything becomes part of the whole.
The song winds down with a nice piano/acoustic
guitar/accordion section, and the theme from the start is reprised at the end
on an acoustic with a lovely, almost Steve
Howe-like performance.
Entirely instrumental, the titles have the freedom to say
what they want. So we have pulsing songs about bicycle races rubbing shoulders
with sonic stabs at the intractable problems of speed dating on Mars, along
with the menacing musical beast that is Saturn’s largest moon, and a
mysteriously off-kilter soundtrack to a detective mystery set in Siberia.
The Mars speed dating scenario is emphatically underlined by
a heavy slab of metallic guitar and keyboard riffing that bears the hallmarks
of some of the darker RIO bands, but this part is countered by more fabulously
light-fingered interplay that prevents the song becoming a doomfest. Maybe they
spotted Gentle Giant traversing
Pavonis Mons by balloon?
More delightful acoustic guitar surfaces at the start of the
playfully spooky Tandem, later
reflected by the electric, and countered by the return of the acoustic, joined
by the tinkling piano. Some spiky electric guitar interjections ask more
questions in another self-contained tale of intrigue. Ringing guitars and
revisited themes build an atmosphere of expectation, and for now this is
my favourite track on the record.
Space Cowboy (no,
it’s not that one!) is possibly the strangest thing on here, but it retains the
sense of fun and adventure that runs through Cobra Fakir. The album draws to a close with the eerie two and half
minutes of dark ambience that is Expérience 7, and for the last fifty minutes we have been
well and truly entertained.
The songs on Cobra
Fakir can be likened to the chapters in a novel, one that demands a sequel.
I have no doubt that some highly conservative prog fans will not understand
this fine record, much to their loss, but anyone with a sense of wonder at the
way some musicians can get the old synapses firing in perhaps unexpected ways
should definitely investigate this complex but highly enjoyable album. Miriodor
have a wonderful sense of melody to counter their more experimental tendencies,
and Cobra Fakir pulls off the hard to
achieve feat of being both quite odd and very accessible at the same time. Go
on, all you symphonic prog fans, take a chance, you might be pleasantly
surprised!
Tracklisting:
1. Le roue (3:43)
2.
Cobra Fakir (8:53)
3. RVB7 (3:57)
4. Paris-Roubaix (2:14)
5. Titan (4:18)
6. Un cas
sibérian (2:29)
7. Speed-dating sur Mars (7:07)
8. Tandem (8:24)
9. Maringouin
(3:41)
10. Space Cowboy (3:11)
11. Expérience 7 (2:28)
Total running time - 50:26
Line up:
Pascal Globensky - keyboards, synths, piano
Rémi Leclerc - drums,
percussion, keyboards, turntable
Bernard Falaise - guitars, bass, keyboards, banjo,
turntable
Buy from Cuneiform Records
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