Artist: Last Embrace, The
Label: Longfellow Deeds Records
Release: 2009
Runtime: 62:07
Rating: 4/5
The Last Embrace are a prog rock band from France who put out their debut studio album, “Inside”, back in 2006. While listening to that debut, I jotted down:
“Going forward, it would be smart to keep the contrast of those occasional sophisticated sonic escapes that “Inside” delivers, while also putting the lead motifs much more front and center, so they stick firmly in the listener’s ear and bring the band more expressive coherence and, as a result, an even more polished record. In other words, a pinch less experimentation and, on the flip side, more direct rock and metal punch. Despite a few well-worn musical forms, “Inside” hints that The Last Embrace could grow into a band with a clearly marked authorial identity.”
And here’s the funny thing. The new album gives us almost 20 minutes more material than the debut. And yet it feels like the band read the paragraph above first and only then went off to write the new record. Right from the opener Complete City, you get a seriously well-judged compactness. It’s a catchy, melodically polished combination of verse and chorus, with the shift in atmosphere from one to the other that you’d want. The base is a winding guitar riff, beefed up to the point of being almost metal by The Last Embrace’s standards, a fluid rhythmic backbone, and on top of that a very likeable female vocal that conveys a sense of innocence, with immense charm in its tone and, most importantly, high compatibility with the song’s instrumental platform. Meanwhile the Hammond keys “slyly” slip in to remind us we’re still firmly in progressive rock territory.
Impending Down confirms that feeling. All of a sudden the album morphs into a blend of natural-sounding sonic collages that keep embracing, accompanying and steering the female vocal, and doing it very successfully and pleasingly. This is where the French band shows off one of its biggest strengths. The interplay between guitar and piano is downright ideal, with the lines of both instruments flowing into each other. At the same time the solos aren’t pretentious, overstretched or hungry for experimental effect. The song is rich in motifs, yet it keeps its red thread and its compactness.
That’s the feeling the album holds onto through the rest of the record. Sure, there are moments with more freedom of musical inspiration, which is exactly what the development of Into Vortex embodies. Through innocent weaving of what we can by now call The Last Embrace’s trademark combining, it builds up into a “crescendo” of distorted riff accompaniment. They beef that up further with rugged Hammond chord inserts, and in atmospheric terms the song reaches more than daring dynamics through the different moods it creates this way.
The Last Embrace clearly gave the material for the new album a lot more attention as they moulded it into the final form of their new compositions. As a result, they’ve managed to bring out the lead motifs much more clearly than on the studio debut. Even the moments where the motifs loosen up (especially in the longer songs) don’t break the sense of compactness. The band has also managed to string together a set of songs that differ nicely from one another. Between the progressively forged stretches they slip in calmer, balladic moments (Gravitiy, Alone) that discharge the tension built up before and carry it into a whole new sphere. The band also uses short instrumental preludes (Saffon’s Theatre, Playground) to neatly separate the more demanding, longer songs on the album.
The moments that don’t hide the instrumentalists’ jazz chops are expertly calibrated and woven into the compactness. They either adapt completely to the lead vocal lines or are tucked, carefully and under the axiom of total compatibility, into the framework of the lead musical phrases. The result is a dynamic progressive rock album that stays highly listenable throughout. At the same time, The Last Embrace for the first time in their career clearly show the first signs of a clear musical profile, which further cements their musical identity, their authentic platform. With “Aerial” the band also signals that it’s more mature, richer in new insights and experience, and that it came into the studio with an even clearer vision and focus when recording the new album. The Last Embrace have capitalized on the big musical talent they showed off on the debut “Inside”! With “Aerial” they’ve successfully stepped up to a new, higher level in the evolution of their musical artistry. The Last Embrace aren’t a musical revolution. But they are a fresh, inspired unit that keeps its trademark mix of softly seductive combinatorics, free improvisation and motivic compactness. And holding it all together is an excellent female vocal, through which the soul and heartbeat of the band fully reveal themselves. Highly recommended to everyone who loves the French approach to progressive rock.
Lineup
Sandy – vocals
Coco – keyboards
Olivier – guitar
Laurent – guitar
Anthony – bass guitar
Alexis – drums
Production
The Last Embrace & Benjamin Joubert
Tracklist
1. Complete City
2. Impending Dawn
3. Among Them
4. Into the Vortex
5. Gravity
6. Aerial
7. Whirltime
8. Alone
9. Saffron’s Theatre
10. Nomad Wave
11. Playground
12. Serotonine
13. Precious Pond
