When I saw the title of Lyon artist Gabriel Keller’s second album, Hope Despite Everything, I instinctively knew that this would resonate with me, simply because, before reading anything of the concept behind the music, this pretty much sums up my attitude to life, politics, destiny, the universe (insert any descriptive here). I am an optimist, someone whose glass is half full, this despite everything, the nonsense, violence, corruption one witnesses in this deeply flawed, but capable of so much beauty, race of ours. I believe that we will, eventually, mature, and that the good will triumph.

This wonderful album, which you can purchase at https://gabrielkeller.bandcamp.com/album/hope-despite-everything addresses the absurdity of war through a series of letters from a mother to her son on “side one”. The album then continues in a more poetic atmosphere, turning towards hope.

Keller has surrounded himself with a veritable concierge roster of collaborators. He plays guitars, percussion, bass, and provides backing vocals. Lucas Biguet-Mermet plays drums on all barring two tracks, which are filled by Simon Rebuffat. Charlie Henry plays guitars on six tracks (and what a find he is for me), Lucie Lacour provides cello, vibraphone, and backing vocals. Prominent amongst the vocal contributors is Emile Béroule (Emi B).

There is a rich, dense set of influences on this eleven-track work, so let’s discuss and listen.

We open with Why? A simple question. Why are we doing this? Why so many deaths? We note here, of course, that the finest works about war are written from this perspective. Why? What a waste! The track acts as an overture, the sound of war predominant over the haunting spoken words and recalls, probably deliberately, some of the second side of Floyd’s The Wall.

The Letter Part One introduces the album proper. This is the first of seven tracks featuring Emi B on vocals. The song is a letter sent from the mother to her son, a young man already with blood on his hands, an innocent sent to war. There is some good orchestration and acoustic guitar work, and Emi B announces herself as a class singer, perfectly suited to this type of operatic story. I love the cello contribution of Lacour and there is a suitably dark, but short, guitar solo, and this is a song which provides the context to this concept album perfectly well.

The Guns Are Approaching is simply a story about the fear, loathing, prayers, hope for absolution, a miracle, amid the terror of battle, something most of us have never known (thankfully), but is an all too real experience for millions, and now on our continent in Europe with Putin’s bloody invasion of Ukraine. I have embedded this piece below. The initial segment is reflective during a lull in the fighting, with more than a hint of 60’s Americana in the music. The pace inevitably picks up when the fighting starts, Charlie Henry making an impressive entrance on lead guitar, some very strong licks here, and the expansive loud AOR passage which kicks in at four minutes is impressive in its pomp.

The Letter Part Two is clever, with words being written by the son to the mother, but when the letter got to her, she felt a tear in her heart, the death of her son announced to her by the authorities, with the inevitable heartbreak, something, again, those of us who have never had to participate will simply never have any inkling of the pain which transcends all other emotion. The track is only a couple of seconds short of epic length. I like Henry’s dark guitar introducing this piece, and what follows is very Floydian in its effects and rumbling bass, vocal cries describing the battle, before we get an extended class guitar solo, noticeably classic hard rock in its timbre, well executed. Emi B doesn’t enter until six whole minutes in, but when she does, immediately you appreciate the depth of her ability to put across a deeply distressing story in words. The drums thunder along here before the choral voices herald the news reaching the mother, the vocals and orchestration suitably mournful.

My Son is a lament from mother to her son. I have embedded this below, noting the mournful guitars and a superior vocal performance from Emi B. Rather moving with a buildup to a huge climax.

Never Surrender is a song of defiance. Featuring (a la Supertramp) the voice of Churchill, I don’t think Keller meant it as a paeon to the struggles on the trenches happening in Ukraine, but I think the sentiments could easily be transplanted there, time to fight, never surrender, keeping our heads above water. Henry again provides some class fretwork above a very strong rhythm section, some complex percussion work especially noticeable on this track, and some of it is quite funky in a race to inspire fight and survival.

Oppression is a track in the French, and features Manon Coursol, Charlotte Gagnor on vocals and Lucie Lacour providing a deep cello. It provides for an interesting blend of classic and modern metal, say Sabbath and Karnivool with more of that operatic seam at the heart of all that is good about this album.

Poussières Eternelles translates as Eternal Dust, and features Angelina Pelluet alongside Gagnor on vocals. I have embedded this beautiful song below, a track which cries out to me without literally understanding the words, a lament to the sheer waste and deposition of a living human being to eternal oblivion at the pull of a trigger. The vocals are a delight, simply a beautiful piece of music which demands wider attention.

Your Way has the return of Emi B. Best described as a prog shanty, this is a song of finding your way with the inner voices in our head talking to us constantly, and we simply must try our best. Delightful.

Change is the penultimate piece. It reminds me of Rickie Lee Jones so much, and this is very much a positive comparison. I have embedded this uplifting song below, a clarion call to us to treat each other as a family and change the world for the better, this is a call to (peaceful) arms imbued with the spirit of the 1960’s anti-war movement and featuring a stunning uplifting guitar riff from Henry.

We close with Mahaut, a divine closing chapter full of regret, but wishing to close the wounds and put the past behind one. It is lovely, a perfect close to a mighty fine album, dripping with emotion, the cello, voice, and guitar combining to staggering impact, a crescendo of love, pain, and hope.

So, Hope Despite Everything. An album which deals with the most difficult of human subjects, conflict, but which manages to do so in the context that, yes despite everything, all will be well, that final achingly gorgeous piece taking the listener to another spiritual level, closing an album which very knowingly refuses to be bitter, angry, or political about its subject, but places it firmly within the lived and spiritual experience, and is all the better for it.

I have listened to this fine album several times before committing anything to paper, but can state, very confidently, that this is a work which will change your perception of what modern operatic rock music can achieve. Having just produced a video revisiting Floyd’s The Wall, I can absolutely state that this not only stands comparison thematically, but also avoids the narcissism of that old classic. I cannot recommend it highly enough.