FROGTASTIC! A MASTERPIECE
Nine Skies, the French progressive outfit, return to release their fourth studio album, The Lightmaker on 18th September 2023. As is now familiar, the core band have been joined by a stellar array of guests, but before I discuss the personnel, I think it is appropriate to set out the concept of this album, one of the finest I have seen.
Long life, and the research into the extension of the human lifespan has always fascinated me, as has (academically & in the religious sense) the idea of an existence after the end of the corporeal time on earth. I remember very well an interview with the arch atheist, Richard Dawkins, who was asked whether he would welcome an eternal life. He responded by expressing outrage – “imagine how boring it would be”, which I always thought was a bit of a trite comment for an intelligent man, because I think I would rather be bored than non-existent. Imagine, though, living 1,001 lives? That is the premise of this wonderful album. Rudy is now living his 1,001st, and final, life. This fascinates me, more so because this huge existence (some 80,000 years on present life expectancy) still has a finality attached to it. Imagine, at the start, it must feel like you really are living for an eternity. Even at 800 lives, you still have 301 ahead, but because time simply cannot be beaten, there is still a point when it must come to an end, a finality, and this is where Rudy is, reflecting upon parts of this wondrous journey. What a thought, and what a concept.
I rarely reproduce lyrics in my reviews, but I have for each track with vocals here, because I think it adds to the sense of wonder for the reader.
This is another album dedicated to that supreme artist, Eric Bouillette and he contributed acoustic guitar on The Dreamer before his passing. His partner, Anne-Claire Rallo wrote the lyrics and is the band’s keyboardist, guitarist/pianist Alexandre Lamia has done an amazing job mixing and mastering a sonic delight, and the lineup is completed by David Darnaud on guitars, Alexis Bietti on bass, and Johnny Marter on drums. Further, Achraf El Asraoui returns to provide vocals on The Architect. The guests I discuss on each track because they all bring a unique flavour to the already impressive musicianship Nine Skies offer that simply writing them down on a list seems somewhat inadequate. Make no bones about it, though. This band attract guests as they do because of their talent and the quality of the songwriting.
So, we have eight pieces of music on an album lasting just short of an hour and start with a short introduction piece, An Fánaí, which translates as The Wanderer – I have embedded here the artwork for this piece of music, and it is, I promise, typical of the lush images which appear throughout this product and for this, huge credit to Anne-Claire, Alexander, and Steve Anderson. The track opens with wild winds before a gentle acoustic guitar creates an expansive sense of peace, but also the sense of exploration, alongside some church bells chiming.
After such a beautiful start to proceedings, we move into the album proper with The Explorer, this featuring the talents on vocals of Riccardo Romano (Steven Rothery Band, RanestRane), and this will be listeners chance to hear the lead vocalist on the band’s forthcoming tour later this year, and his lush tones strike you from the opening second against a foreboding organ and some lovely guitar notes. As the track moves into its main sequence, there is a wonderful expanse to it before we settle into the vocals set against a lovely piano and some fine vocal effects. When Romano tells the autobiographical tale of The Explorer, his voice drips with emotion, and the band match this with music which veers between the loudly expressive (the bass melody here is especially strong) and quietly forceful. As a measure of the intelligence of this concept and the story it tells, how about the words I reproduce below?
Above the whirl of my memories
All the places I have been
All the people I have known
All the things I have seen
Romano cries these words out and the song’s denouement finds the band joining him in an exploration of this character’s life, and the memories this brings, a man who could never stand still and spent his whole life running away, bringing me back to the Dawkins quote – bored? Not this explorer!
The Dreamer follows, and this features The Room’s Martin Wilson on vocals – the video is embedded below. Eight minutes long, we start with some delicate orchestration, and when Wilson enters, it is again impressive, but in stark contrast to Romano, and therein lies the genius of the album by getting different vocal styles to tell the stories of different characters within the multitude of lives. Musically, there is a definite dreamlike quality. Just short of three minutes in, we get a gorgeous guitar burst, and this is followed by a spoken narration by Wilson.
When I grow up, I’ll be the dreamer
I am the timeless behind time
Nothing but ephemeral
Only an absolute crime
It vanished beyond my sight
It just vanished beyond my sight
What does become of a dreamer once delusion is over? The subject urges us to wake up to freedom, but he is never forgiven, and this is an interesting interplay, I believe, behind the story of this character transposed into our reality, and a mournful guitar solo beautifully imposes this upon our consciousness, those dreamers who want to improve the human condition can very often be condemned, never forgiven for their aspirations, especially by the establishment they condemn. This is a very sad song, the flute at the end with the keys providing a decidedly low key ending, and it is no less lovely for this.
The Chaotic follows. What about that image? Arnaud Quevedo (who as AQ & Friends has just released 2nd Life which I hope to review shortly) and the wonderful Laura Piazzai (Imaginaerium) feature on vocals, with the incredibly talented keyboardist Adam Holzman, who is part of Steven Wilson’s live band. As the name of the track implies, musically this brings a far heavier and, well, chaotic feel to proceedings and is as good a slab of hard rock you are likely to hear in 2023. The guitars are menacing, the rhythm section thundering, and the keyboards produce some interesting noises. Lyrically, I find this one interesting, talking about the impact of the digital world upon our real lives, something which will only grow more profound with proxy servers expanding infinitely your sense online. Extremely clever and a hard-hitting number, witness Piazzai narrating against a thumping background of dystopian keys, drums clattering a gloriously complex rhythm, and general electronic noise before the guitar riffs turn up the intensity a notch further alongside Quevedo’s part. Following this, there is the most wonderful keyboard solo, as if a dark room has been opened to the world for the first time in a life, with the attendant breath of fresh air that brings, new life, new optimism before the dystopian chaos reasserts itself in the final minute.
Love has become a techno-thriller
Action-drama
Wired
Fear, cyber intrusion
The Lost features the extremely talented Pain of Salvation man, Kristoffer Gildenlöw on vocals and bass. This track is a very interesting study of a man wondering, mentally lost, calling for his Mummy to pray for him.
The Child inside of me
Used to be so happy
Today he’s wondering
Through a field
Of broken toys
Nine minutes long, we start with more chimes before Gildenlöw perfectly sings the inherent sadness against a lovely acoustic guitar which brings a classical sensibility to the piece, with more spoken words interspersed with the sung lyrics. At the end of the first segment, an electric guitar cries to us over the continuing acoustic instrument in a passage which is so sad as to simply make you close your eyes and drink it all in. In the lost segment, the acoustic guitar continues, but set against some dark psych noises which stand in contrast to some of the gentle orchestration you hear as well, therefore contrasting moods, exemplified five minutes in when the track suddenly rocks out in an explosion of noise, the drums especially crashing in your ears. These moods continue to play against each other, and when it gets loud and heavy, it is glorious with the keyboards soaring above the reflections in the mind.
Whatever. Cinematic, urgent, vital, this track paints a picture which is a fascinating, but desperately sad, life, again anything but boring.
The Wanderer returns in an interlude, a brief pastoral delight featuring a choir of many voices. My only criticism is that I would have loved this song to have been extended into a longer piece.
The album finishes with two genuine epic-length songs, the first of which is The Haunted at eleven and a quarter minute featuring one of my favourite vocalists and a genuinely decent chap, Charlie Bramald of Ghost of the Machine. Personally, I think Charlie’s contribution here is a contender for this website’s performance of the year at my 2023 awards. This track is a genuine symphonic rock classic. It features some gorgeous haunting guitar work, and a band in total harmony. I am going to write down some words. I can only tell you that when Bramald sings them, the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, the emotion crackling. There is a certain guitarist and violinist up there listening intently and smiling at this vocal shift from his colleague and friend.
Intoxicated by the
flavours of life
I’ve decided to dance
Haunted by ghosts
My footsteps float
High above the ground
Of course, the vocals rise to the occasion set by the band musically. There is some wonderful guitar work on this piece, a bass performance which is worthy of Squire and Entwistle at their best, delightful jazzy drum patterns, pastorally delightful acoustic guitar, with keyboards and piano creating a classic progressive pastiche. As the spoken words bring us the introduction to the final segment, the music is achingly lovely accompanying this. Charlie doesn’t panic, and neither do we listening to this incredible music, the synths quietly soaring, the piano talking to us.
When the blade of anguish
comes too close to our dreams
We become as fragile
as a lonely heart
And so, we come to the second epic, and the final track on the album featuring the wonderful John Mitchell on guitar and Marco Minnemann on drums, The Architect. This is another track just over eleven minutes long, introduced by beautiful acoustic guitar. Vocals feature the returning, and lovely voice of Achraf El Asraoui. This is a deeply reflective piece of music, and, in the opening passage, features some wonderful keyboard work against the pastoral band before they again bring their rock music to the fore, then some delightfully jazzy work, also with a distinct psych & post rock passage, a more traditional classic rock segment which reminds me a bit of classic Rainbow, whale song effects, dreamy guitar against a soaring symphonic keyboard, marching drums with a classic guitar riff, so in essence we get the full spectrum of progressive rock music in this epic track, a thoroughly eclectic way in which to close this album.
Why give us the ability to feel
If live has no meaning?
Why have emotions
Inside waves of absurdity?
Talking of closing the album, the final forty seconds are simply beautiful, listening with eyes closed, reflecting on another life well lived.
It is the job of a music critic, reviewer, writer, call us what one will, to do their best to put across to a potential listening audience what emotions or reaction a piece of art invokes, to persuade a reader that one’s opinion will accord with their taste and enable them to decide whether to take the next step and invest their hard-earned, or, of course, if that investment has already been made, whether said opinion is a realistic one.
So, let me say this. The Lightmaker is a masterpiece not just of modern progressive rock, but of any era. It deserves to take its place amongst classics of the genre. It is a work of art, a labour of love, something that will be played here for as long as I have the privilege of living my solitary life.
My only regret for this album is that there probably isn’t enough time for Nine Skies to release the remaining 993 of Rudy’s lives. Perhaps, though, in another dimension. Let us hope.
Stellar. Essential. So good, if it were not to be added to your collection, it would be a cardinal sin. It can be ordered at https://nineskies.bandcamp.com/album/the-lightmaker