Vecteur K: La peur du désert

Vecteur K, hailing from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2003. La peur du désert (The Fear of the Desert) is their first official release. The band consists of Marc-Andre Noel (vocals, guitars, percussion), Marc-Antoine Sauvé (guitars, mandolin), Jean-Francois Bernard (keyboards), Benoit Dalpé (bass) and Éric Cournoyer (drums).

The underlying theme of the album is "the feeling of emptiness expressed by mankind and the perpetual fight for filling it." Although I do not speak French, I can tell you there is an underlying feeling of melancholy in the music. Not depressing at all, just a subtle sadness prevalent in some songs. The band is very good at changing tempos and the transitions between different movements flow beautifully. The music can be quite accessible because of some outstanding melodies but in no way is this a commercial album. The arrangements can be fairly complex but never pretentious or overbearing. The guitar playing is very good with a nice mixture of electric and acoustic sounds.

The album begins with "tamböa", a very good progressive rock song where crunchy riffage turns into slower lush sounding sections of beautifully melodic lead guitar played with feeling. The second track "à L'abri des images" does a major change up as it goes from a country flavoured beginning to heavy progressive rock in just under seven minutes. The jazzy overtones in "mes armes de verre" complete with clean lines of lead guitar and soft drumming is another treat. The progressive rock of "vendetta" features a lovely piano intro, fusion sounding guitar, crashing power chords and back full circle to the soft sounds of piano. The great thing is that it all flows together naturally with not one note out of place.

My favourite song is the Floyd inspired "abscisses" with the music taking different twists and turns including a take on Celtic progressive metal, if there is such a thing. The guitar playing of Marc-Antoine Sauvé really shines on this one.

Vecteur K are a great fit for the Unicorn Digital label. This is melodic stuff with a fair amount of complexity that should satisfy a wide range of musical tastes. Why don't you try it out for yourself?

Track Listing:
1. tamböa
2. à L'abri des images
3. mes armes de verre
4. 16 x 42
5. mieux qu'avant
6. abscisses
7. instable
8. vendetta
9. Le pouls de ma colère
10. La dame dans L'escalier
11. Vecteur K

Added: December 19th 2009
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's Official Site
Hits: 2775
Language: english

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