Description
PSEU were a band from Bordeaux, France who existed from 1979-1983. Their music is very much in the MAGMA school of things with male French vocals. His vocals are often theatrical, sometimes tortured and you could add strange and bizarre to those descriptions as well. He often sings melodies without words, and sometimes mimics an instrument that has just played ahead of him. He’s great. There is a definite Rio flavour at times, and talk about complex arrangments and instrumental work ! This music is for the adventerous who are up for a challenge, but who also enjoy catchy rhythms and beautiful solos.Yes I am blown away by this obscure release,much as I was with Francois Thollot’s album “Contact”. The tempos change often as do the moods, from bright and sunny, to dark and sinister. This is a trip. This is brilliant.
“Biguine” hits the ground running with relentless bass and pounding drums. The guitar and keys both come and go. The vocal melodies are great and mimic the instruments at times. There is some screeching guitar that’s hard on the ears before the song starts to slow down as it ends. “Satno Danse” has a good beat of bass and drums as the guitar adds to the sound. Vocal melodies 1 1/2 minutes in. This song seems simple enough but it works to perfection. Keys comes in after 3 minutes.This is fantastic ! Some nice jazzy guitar to end it. “La Ronde Du Jardinier (Simulacre / Part 1)” opens with what sounds like xylophone but the bass is dominating. This has such a great soundscape with plenty of tempo changes. Check out the sound 3 1/2 minutes in, the keys and drums shine. “Rencontre Avec Les Devas (Simulacre / Part 2)” has a darker sound with some eerie guitar that is slowly played. Cymbals clash in the background slowly as well. This one is more like chamber music. Now we get to the final three songs which happen to be the longest three tracks as well.
“Vidange” opens with the drums pounding away as the angular guitar melodies come in.The vocal melodies join in and then he starts to speak words, he’s very theatrical. Ok he’s starting to act a little weird now 4 minutes in as he’s laughing, speaking, and just carrying on really. The soundscape is beautiful and the guitar is incredible 6 minutes in. The song slows right down after 8 minutes, but it’s brief. It picks right back up with vocals returning 10 minutes in to close it out. “Miroir” is my favourite song on this record. The vocals are a little crazy, operatic actually, and the sound is plain amazing. The guitar grinds away as drums pound and bass throbs. 3 minutes in the vocals are even stranger as the guitar turns dark and the cymbals clash. More angular guitar 5 minutes in. Nice. The vocals at this point are tortured and deranged. This guy needs help. The song slows right down and out of that calm a light appears in the form of an uptempo, bright soundscape with some scorching guitar and vocal melodies. This is great ! The final song is called “Demascarade”. We get some light drums and keys with some Latimer-like soaring guitar. Well not quite soaring but it’s getting there. The song speeds up with vocals 3 minutes in. There is a long hypnotic section of drums and bass as the guitar and vocals show off. After 8 minutes we get some blistering guitar with keys and vocal melodies. And I mean blistering guitar !
Thankyou so much Avestin for bringing another great recording to my attention. The vocals took a little time to digest but they’re really Avant-garde on only a couple of tracks. It’s the instrumental music that really took my breath away. This is a masterpiece.
