Artist: Univers Zero
Label: Cuneiform
Released: 1984
Rating: 4.8/5
After Ceux du Dehors, which many people consider the peak of Univers Zero’s career, bandleader Daniel Denis decided to shake things up a bit. The lineup for Uzed was completely different. The oboe, bassoon and English horn were replaced by clarinet and saxophone. The violins and violas gave way to a cello. The rest of the (rock) instruments are the same, except the keyboards sound quite different. You no longer hear the classic keyboards like mellotron, organ or harmonium (a lot of people can’t stand that instrument, but I love it) – instead, piano and synthesizer take center stage. Using a synth was something new for Univers Zero, and it was hard to predict how it would go over. But there was no reason to worry.
The opening track already tells you this is the Univers Zero that made such a name for itself on the scene with Ceux du Dehors. They sound just like before, and yet different. They kept their recognizable sound but added another dimension with the synthesizer. I’m not a big fan of the instrument, but used the right way it can be a powerful ally rather than getting in the way. Like I said, the first track shows off all the typical elements of this band – fast-moving melodic exchanges, an insanely intricate approach to composition, and a dark, brooding mood. Another trademark is the shifts between delicate chamber passages and wilder, more frenzied segments. I also love how they play around with melodies. Sometimes they repeat the same melody several times, but every now and then they drop a note or add one, which can throw the listener completely off the beat, since the time signature shifts too. Keeping up with all these changes can be pretty tricky, but that’s part of the appeal.
The second song is short, but there’s a ridiculous amount packed into it. Four minutes crammed with so much that it’s hard to believe. Plenty of bands can’t fit that many ideas into much longer tracks. The typical avant-garde and RIO element of dissonance runs through the whole song.
Celesta is a dark, solemn piece that the band first plays at a fairly slow pace. At first it may seem a little repetitive, but Univers Zero toy with the melodies and arrangements so much that the listener can barely keep track of all the tricks. The quiet, chamber-like mood changes toward the end, when the electric guitar comes to the rescue and the synthesizer steps onto the stage too. Denis’s drumming also adds to the more rock-oriented feel.
Parade isn’t exactly talked about as a key Univers Zero work, but for me it’s definitely one of their best, since it’s full of beauty and emotion. They pull off a great contrast between the playfulness of a parade and the dark, eerie atmosphere lurking beneath the surface. Not that any of us expected the whole piece to be “festive.” This is not symphonic or neo prog rock, after all. In the middle of the song there’s a gorgeous synth melody, picked up by the piano. I think Denis mixed up the titles, and Parade should have been called Celeste, because it’s truly heavenly.
The Last Act (Zadnje dejanje) is the only “epic” on the album. Like many of their longer pieces, it starts slow and gradually gets faster and louder. The peaks may not be as good as on Funeral Plain (Heatwave), but the piece is more consistent. Special mention goes to the crazy bass line that kicks in around the middle of the song and doesn’t let up until almost the end. It seems simple on the surface, but I had to listen to it quite a few times before I could follow it. Yet another typical Univers Zero trick. I only have one complaint. The last couple of minutes are nothing but noise and sound effects, which create a particular mood, but with the song already over they don’t have much impact. If this happened somewhere in the middle, it wouldn’t bother me, since it would only help build a better climax. It doesn’t feel like the right way to end such a wonderful album. But there’s enough good stuff here to cancel out that one small flaw.
Even though this album leans more toward rock than the previous ones, the chamber effect is still there. The cello, clarinet, saxophone and all the other instruments simply stepped in for the bassoon, violin and so on. The synthesizer actually improved their sound, which Daniel Denis surely noticed too, since he used it even more on Heatwave. All the musicians are in top form, but Denis made the biggest impression on me. As the main composer, he has no problem just sitting out some parts. Plenty of frontmen are obsessed with overplaying and inflating their own ego, but Denis thinks of the good of the songs and the band first. Commendable. Only a composer with enough confidence in his own abilities is happy to hand the spotlight to the other members.
For me this is their most consistent album. Usually there are a few less interesting moments in their pieces, but not here. No wonder it took Denis a full three years to finish composing, because the compositions are masterfully crafted, there are no flaws, and the music flows incredibly well whether the songs are short or long. Another odd thing is that on Uzed, Univers Zero actually came pretty close to the sound Roger Trigaux created with Present. Trigaux left precisely because he wanted to play more electric, rock-oriented music, and it’s quite ironic that after just one album Denis decided such a style might not be such a bad idea after all. Whatever. What matters is that we got two excellent bands (Univers Zero and Present), with two excellent composers, instead of one group where the protagonists can’t get on the same page. Univers Zero is a band that I’m happy to listen to, but reviews of their albums are really hard to write, because this music is so hard to pin down and so hard to describe.
Lineup
– Daniel Denis: drums, percussion, synthesizer
– Dirk Descheemaeker: soprano saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
– Christian Genet: bass, balafon, guitar, tapes, whistle
– Andre Mergen: cello, alto saxophone, vocals
– Jean-Luc Plouvier: electric & acoustic piano, synthesizer, piano strings, percussion
Guests:
Michel Delory (guitar on 3), Marc Verbist (violin on 3)
Production
Univers Zero
Track list
1. Présage 9:48
2. L’Etrange Mixture du Docteur Schwartz 3:52
3. Célesta (for Chantal) 6:55
4. Parade 6:37
5. Emmanations 15:43
Album length: 43:04
