Wow, magnifique ce concert au Bourg à Lausanne.
Quelle finesse, Chapter. Après le concert j'ai du sortir tellement la musique qu'ils ont mis sur la sono après était désagréable par rapport au live...
Les nuances, la simplicité (enfin c'est pas vraiment ça, je ne sais pas trop comment dire, mais le contraire de la surcharge, quoi, la parcimonie? une sorte de tact musical?). Le niveau sonore pas trop élevé, juste bien agréable. La voix qu'on entend distinctement, on comprend bien les paroles (qui sont exceptionnelles, même si pas toujours très réjouissantes). Le son nickel comme d'habitude avec eux...
La grosse caisse bien présente, ça donnait une toute autre puissance à "as I stand upright in the river".
Pas vraiment dans l'ordre, ils (Thierry, les deux Alex et Vincent) ont joué :
southern nights
southern days
as i stand upright in the river
tomcat
a winter chill
the blue lake of lannalot (qui m'est bien restée dans la tête après)
the young ones
o! fryda
mama rose
little boxes (de peete seeger, génial)
what am i to do now
the bird (song for mum)
the monsters
a song to nowhere
alfred theodore vanier (1913-1987)
the kraken
en rappel:
my sweet girl (dont on a eu la projection du clip, filmé dans la même salle, très beau (même si elle est horrible cette histoire...))
Géniaux les sons que Thierry arrive à trouver avec sa guitare. Et la distortion naturelle avec une feuille de papier (sur the bird?).
Génial l'enchainement des morceaux, les petites introductions.
D'habitude, quand j'adore les deux premiers albums d'un groupe et que je vais les voir en concert après la sortie de leur troisième ou quatrième album, je regrette de ne pas les voir jouer toutes les chansons que j'aime bien des premiers albums.
Eh bien là pas du tout. Il y a plein de chansons que j'adore qu'ils n'ont pas jouées (vu qu'ils n'ont joué qu'une chanson de Prologue et une de The Biographer), mais elles ne m'ont pas manqué de tout, les chansons de Three et Four suffisaient largement à me faire vivre un moment extraordinaire. Chapeau...
Et même pour Three, les deux seules chansons qu'ils n'ont pas jouées (Serial et Candle of Black Hope) sont parmi mes préférées, mais ça ne m'a pas déçu qu'ils ne les jouent pas. Et pour ces deux chansons une grande partie de ce qui les rend géniales pour moi c'est la superposition des voix d'Alex, qu'il peut difficilement faire en live. Ils faut que les autres s'y mettent :)))
La basse assez discrète, pas trop dans les graves en général, et puis de temps en temps une longue note bien grave qui du coup en ressort beaucoup plus.
Pas mal de surprises, je ne m'attendais pas à avoir la mélodie à la basse sur "the young ones", et en écoutant "oh! fryda" sur le disque je pensais que c'était une harpe et pas un tout petit instrument à quatre cordes :)
J'avais oublié comment ils jouaient "Alfred Theodore Vanier" en live, et c'était excellent.
Magnifique ce concert, j'espère que j'en verrai d'autres, et que les chapitres continueront à s'empiler petit à petit.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Monday, August 4, 2008
Chapter - Two (the Biographer)
Here goes for my first album review...
Saïko Records released (Geneva band) Chapter's second album in 2006. Or was it 2007? Anyway one could say August 4th 2008's a bit late to write a review, but then again why not, better late than never. The recording of the third album is planned for the autumn, maybe I'll have better timing there. Anyhow, Chapter's MySpace page mentions they recorded their masterwork in the summer of 2006 (don't think that they are boasting, the term 'masterwork' is from me, and it does not mean that i prefer the 2nd album to the first, i think they're both excellent). The beautifully crafted CD booklet mentions MMVII for the artwork (quaint notation?).
The first thing that struck me with Chapter when I stumbled upon their page perchance on MySpace was the sound. Great sound (sorry for the poor adjectives). Beautiful acoustic guitars and voice. Calm. Like you're sitting in a cottage. Or a field. And you have nothing to do but close your eyes and enjoy.
[open parenthesis]
OK, the pretext for writing this album review is to get a free cd from Saiko records. But for that i would need to write a 'staggering review' (dixit chris)... I think i'll give up writing the staggering review, i don't think i'm up to it, i'll just write it as it comes... It's going to be very personal, so probably not very interesting. To cut a long story short : Chapter is currently one of my favorite bands, I recommend you ((go) buy and) listen to their records (and see them live if you have a chance).
[close parenthesis]
So, superb sound. Intricate guitar lines. Wow. Then the lyrics. Not what you usually hear. I'm not good with words, but here even I can feel the poetry, something like literature sung.
How would you categorize Chapter's music? My second (virtual) encounter with the band was when i saw a poster for an evening at l'Usine with lots of metal bands. Chapter's music was described as 'dark folk'. At first i thought the description didn't fit at all... And that's the first time i wrote a short message to the band. I didn't consider it as 'folk', because my idea of folk music was singers like (early) Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter Paul and Mary. I found Chapter's songs much more elaborate (musically speaking). And then i didn't feel the 'dark' side at all, but then maybe that was because when i listen to music I rarely listen with attention to the lyrics at first.
Now that I read the lyrics I guess you can use the adjective. And since the band describes their genre as 'a smooth vein of folkrock', so be it. Anyhow, it's so hard to put most bands in a category, it's just useful when you present a band to someone. But then that's the purpose of an album review.
Extraordinary production and arrangements... Feels like you can hear every instrument very distinctly. Bravo Mr. TVO.
The idea is that every song is a little biography of a fictional characters (except the first). Well, not really. Each title consists of a person's name, dates of birth and often death, and a small description. I'll omit the dates and text in the following list and give some quick impressions on each song.
1. Baron B. M. Craker. Beautiful. Just two guitars (one of them very discreet) and a voice. You can feel the emotion...
2. John Strafford. One of my favorites. I was very surprised when I first heard the song. I did not expect Chapter to play that kind of music. At first I heard a tinge of Sting's voice in the singing. Drums, bass, electric instruments, more than one voice, stark contrast to the opening song.
3. Andrew B. Floyd. Back to more classic Chapter music. OK i guess i say that because it's one of the first songs i heard on the web. Calm. Listening to the lyrics i understand a bit what l'Usine meant by 'dark-folk' : words like 'despair', 'aching', 'disarray'. Pink Floydesque moments at times with the guitars and synth.
4. William H. Connors. [author got lost in the music and lapsed into french] Tempo bien lent, de la disto, j'adore le chant. Surtout quand il est doublé. [end of a.g.l.i.t.m.a.l.i.f.] Oops, sorry, so i was saying slow tempo, basic (but effective, it's not a critic) drums, distortion, great singing. I especially like the second voice. "No i don't want to walk this world alone".
5. Alexander M. Ford. Again with at least two guitars, bass and drums. The rhythm reminds me of the Meat Puppets covers on Nirvana's Unplugged a bit. Again a nice mix between a gently distorted 'lead' guitar and acoustic arpeggioes. And yet again love the two voices.
6. Andrea Ludke. I'd say a waltz (but maybe all 3/4 songs aren't waltzes). Once again i wouldn't say the music is depressing, at all, but if you listen to the lyrics, the words 'hell', 'tear' and 'pain' creep up again.
7. Dan L.J. Goodman. Rock :) Pretty slow tempo, again. Nice voices, good follow-up to songs #4 and 5.
8. Alfred Theodore Vanier : very nice (and long) instrumental. Makes me feel like I'm driving a car, on the highway along the Leman lake, with the sun blazing (ok, maybe in the winter the feeling would be different). Maybe because the first time i listened to it was in my singer's car late after rehearsal. Whatever. The piece develops, adding layers, ending in song.
9. Morecambe Lowe : calm again. A guitar and a voice. Beautiful.
10. Aaron Landvaart : ah some machines... starts a bit like what can be heard in the Interlude on One (Prologue). Then maybe a keyboard? Guitars. Everything comes together with a synth melody ? or could be a bagpipe? (would sound great, live...) Very nice instrumental. Like John Strafford, a bit un-chapter-esque in way.
Wonderful album. 42 minutes 29 seconds. I just listened to it twice while writing this, seems it took 5 minutes...
I recommend :)
nico
ps : i'd like to reprint the lyrics of Baron B.M. Craker without authorization (yet, at least. I'll ask for authorization before giving the link to anybody)
If I could've only
been the only one to
have held on
to you
If I could've only
been the only one to
have held on
to you
But now you're dead and buried
and the sweet memories
belong to
so many
Everyone who knew you
has a different story
we'll never know
the truth
Could we get them together
to get a bigger picture
and know you
a little better
We're all left to carry
in the corner of our eyes
a teardrop
of your life
If I could've only
been the only one to
have held on
to you
Saïko Records released (Geneva band) Chapter's second album in 2006. Or was it 2007? Anyway one could say August 4th 2008's a bit late to write a review, but then again why not, better late than never. The recording of the third album is planned for the autumn, maybe I'll have better timing there. Anyhow, Chapter's MySpace page mentions they recorded their masterwork in the summer of 2006 (don't think that they are boasting, the term 'masterwork' is from me, and it does not mean that i prefer the 2nd album to the first, i think they're both excellent). The beautifully crafted CD booklet mentions MMVII for the artwork (quaint notation?).
The first thing that struck me with Chapter when I stumbled upon their page perchance on MySpace was the sound. Great sound (sorry for the poor adjectives). Beautiful acoustic guitars and voice. Calm. Like you're sitting in a cottage. Or a field. And you have nothing to do but close your eyes and enjoy.
[open parenthesis]
OK, the pretext for writing this album review is to get a free cd from Saiko records. But for that i would need to write a 'staggering review' (dixit chris)... I think i'll give up writing the staggering review, i don't think i'm up to it, i'll just write it as it comes... It's going to be very personal, so probably not very interesting. To cut a long story short : Chapter is currently one of my favorite bands, I recommend you ((go) buy and) listen to their records (and see them live if you have a chance).
[close parenthesis]
So, superb sound. Intricate guitar lines. Wow. Then the lyrics. Not what you usually hear. I'm not good with words, but here even I can feel the poetry, something like literature sung.
How would you categorize Chapter's music? My second (virtual) encounter with the band was when i saw a poster for an evening at l'Usine with lots of metal bands. Chapter's music was described as 'dark folk'. At first i thought the description didn't fit at all... And that's the first time i wrote a short message to the band. I didn't consider it as 'folk', because my idea of folk music was singers like (early) Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter Paul and Mary. I found Chapter's songs much more elaborate (musically speaking). And then i didn't feel the 'dark' side at all, but then maybe that was because when i listen to music I rarely listen with attention to the lyrics at first.
Now that I read the lyrics I guess you can use the adjective. And since the band describes their genre as 'a smooth vein of folkrock', so be it. Anyhow, it's so hard to put most bands in a category, it's just useful when you present a band to someone. But then that's the purpose of an album review.
Extraordinary production and arrangements... Feels like you can hear every instrument very distinctly. Bravo Mr. TVO.
The idea is that every song is a little biography of a fictional characters (except the first). Well, not really. Each title consists of a person's name, dates of birth and often death, and a small description. I'll omit the dates and text in the following list and give some quick impressions on each song.
1. Baron B. M. Craker. Beautiful. Just two guitars (one of them very discreet) and a voice. You can feel the emotion...
2. John Strafford. One of my favorites. I was very surprised when I first heard the song. I did not expect Chapter to play that kind of music. At first I heard a tinge of Sting's voice in the singing. Drums, bass, electric instruments, more than one voice, stark contrast to the opening song.
3. Andrew B. Floyd. Back to more classic Chapter music. OK i guess i say that because it's one of the first songs i heard on the web. Calm. Listening to the lyrics i understand a bit what l'Usine meant by 'dark-folk' : words like 'despair', 'aching', 'disarray'. Pink Floydesque moments at times with the guitars and synth.
4. William H. Connors. [author got lost in the music and lapsed into french] Tempo bien lent, de la disto, j'adore le chant. Surtout quand il est doublé. [end of a.g.l.i.t.m.a.l.i.f.] Oops, sorry, so i was saying slow tempo, basic (but effective, it's not a critic) drums, distortion, great singing. I especially like the second voice. "No i don't want to walk this world alone".
5. Alexander M. Ford. Again with at least two guitars, bass and drums. The rhythm reminds me of the Meat Puppets covers on Nirvana's Unplugged a bit. Again a nice mix between a gently distorted 'lead' guitar and acoustic arpeggioes. And yet again love the two voices.
6. Andrea Ludke. I'd say a waltz (but maybe all 3/4 songs aren't waltzes). Once again i wouldn't say the music is depressing, at all, but if you listen to the lyrics, the words 'hell', 'tear' and 'pain' creep up again.
7. Dan L.J. Goodman. Rock :) Pretty slow tempo, again. Nice voices, good follow-up to songs #4 and 5.
8. Alfred Theodore Vanier : very nice (and long) instrumental. Makes me feel like I'm driving a car, on the highway along the Leman lake, with the sun blazing (ok, maybe in the winter the feeling would be different). Maybe because the first time i listened to it was in my singer's car late after rehearsal. Whatever. The piece develops, adding layers, ending in song.
9. Morecambe Lowe : calm again. A guitar and a voice. Beautiful.
10. Aaron Landvaart : ah some machines... starts a bit like what can be heard in the Interlude on One (Prologue). Then maybe a keyboard? Guitars. Everything comes together with a synth melody ? or could be a bagpipe? (would sound great, live...) Very nice instrumental. Like John Strafford, a bit un-chapter-esque in way.
Wonderful album. 42 minutes 29 seconds. I just listened to it twice while writing this, seems it took 5 minutes...
I recommend :)
nico
ps : i'd like to reprint the lyrics of Baron B.M. Craker without authorization (yet, at least. I'll ask for authorization before giving the link to anybody)
If I could've only
been the only one to
have held on
to you
If I could've only
been the only one to
have held on
to you
But now you're dead and buried
and the sweet memories
belong to
so many
Everyone who knew you
has a different story
we'll never know
the truth
Could we get them together
to get a bigger picture
and know you
a little better
We're all left to carry
in the corner of our eyes
a teardrop
of your life
If I could've only
been the only one to
have held on
to you
welcome
Hi!
My name's nico, I currently live in Geneva, Switzerland. I play the bass in a band (until now its name is Wim et les Wenders, but the name is subject to being changed without notice). We created a page on Myspace so people could listen to our demos. Here's the link : http://www.myspace.com/wimetleswenders
Myspace (and also mx3.ch) have given me the chance to discover oodles of cool bands that live quite close to me. I've been thinking for a while that i'd like to write a bit about those bands. And today i saw that Saiko Records launched a contest : write a review of one of their releases. The best review gets a free Saiko CD. So that gives me the extra incentive to start this blog. I've already chosen the object of my review : chapter's second album, logically named 'Two (the Biographer)'.
As to the language... I guess English, even if it's not my native tongue, because it can reach more people. But then again i guess i'll be writing mostly about french speaking bands. And anyway i'm not much of a writer, so who's going to want to read it anyway :)
ciao for now,
nico
ps : oh, and one last thing (that i repeat to almost anyone who i talk to these days) : it's great to listen to bands that live in your area... That way, if you like what they do, you get to see them live quite often! Before i used to like US bands that would never come to Europe, let alone Geneva. Now i discovered so many bands in the area that i could go to a concert at least twice a week (if i took the time).
pps : i temporarily chose this template for the blog because it reminded me of the cover of chapter's first album (One (Prologue)).
My name's nico, I currently live in Geneva, Switzerland. I play the bass in a band (until now its name is Wim et les Wenders, but the name is subject to being changed without notice). We created a page on Myspace so people could listen to our demos. Here's the link : http://www.myspace.com/wimetleswenders
Myspace (and also mx3.ch) have given me the chance to discover oodles of cool bands that live quite close to me. I've been thinking for a while that i'd like to write a bit about those bands. And today i saw that Saiko Records launched a contest : write a review of one of their releases. The best review gets a free Saiko CD. So that gives me the extra incentive to start this blog. I've already chosen the object of my review : chapter's second album, logically named 'Two (the Biographer)'.
As to the language... I guess English, even if it's not my native tongue, because it can reach more people. But then again i guess i'll be writing mostly about french speaking bands. And anyway i'm not much of a writer, so who's going to want to read it anyway :)
ciao for now,
nico
ps : oh, and one last thing (that i repeat to almost anyone who i talk to these days) : it's great to listen to bands that live in your area... That way, if you like what they do, you get to see them live quite often! Before i used to like US bands that would never come to Europe, let alone Geneva. Now i discovered so many bands in the area that i could go to a concert at least twice a week (if i took the time).
pps : i temporarily chose this template for the blog because it reminded me of the cover of chapter's first album (One (Prologue)).
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