Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Fractale, "Suranne": Horn-Centered Prog EP


French saxologist Julian Julien and his bandmates in Fractale have put together a live EP offering called Suranne (A Bout de Son). It's a guitarless, bassless grouping of three saxes, two trumpets, one tuba and drums. Occasionally there's a synthesizer sound in there as well.

They achieve an interesting, composition-arrangement based prog rock/jazz rock that manages to achieve a drive and density one usually associates with the guitars and electric bass configuration. It has a King Crimson, Zappa, Magma sort of feel to it, though there is a distinctively original sound in the end. Improvisation is minimalized in favor of an ensemble presentation.

It's different. It remains to be heard where they would go beyond this 27-minute EP. A promising beginning! Hear some samples at myspace.com/groupefractale.

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