Every now and again, you hear an album which you must describe very simply, and honestly, as special. That is the only word required, because quality music aficionados such as my readers know precisely what that two-syllable word conveys, with the promise of untold musical delights and synapses pulsing with joy.
The third album from French act, Edenya, delivers. The Secret Destination You Are Looking For is just that, something delightful you have searched for in our musical world. I make no excuse whatsoever for singling out at the top of this review an extraordinary performance and voice of Ingrid Denis, a startlingly talented candidate for my “find of 2025” award on this website, because this delightful album is my introduction to the band.
Her (superb) bandmates are Marco on guitars, keyboard, piano, programming; Juliette Carradec playing violin; Jean-Paul Cartigny on bass guitar; and Sylvie Sj with drums and djembe.
It is released on 17th August, and you can pre-order the digital copy at https://edenya.bandcamp.com/album/the-secret-destination-you-are-looking-for which has a link to where you can get a physical album. To encourage you to do so, the band have released a couple of videos to enjoy, plus we at Progzilla Radio have been absolutely all over this album.
Ten pieces of music over 55 minutes of sheer delight to discuss. Let’s go.
We open with Back from the Endless Seas, a secret destination found whilst wondering without fear in the vast expanse. The opening vocals and pastoral guitar are the gateway to this entire album. It is simply beautiful, almost beyond description, the collective providing us with a deceptively melodic intensity with complex music at its heart, the whole thing, especially when the violin enters the fray, taking you away on the waves to your dreams. Stunning.
The Outing is trying to pull an agoraphobic person out of their self-imposed, television dominated, small world to taste the beauty, and the fears, the outside world has to offer, leaving the agony and tasting life. The opening bars describe that prison very well, and as the song develops, the interaction between the self-imposed claustrophobic room and the excitement, danger, and thrill of what the outside has to offer is executed so well, like a jig, an expression of energy, and all that felling has to offer, enticing the subject and us to let go and accept, Carradec leading that charge, come on, come out, follow me, live, live. The final passage is deeply moving.
The lyrics in Little Girl are fascinating, at once despairing of our inability to change the imbecilities of this world, or those who control it, set against the dreams of youth, and I personally believe that today’s youth hold the key to change, the ability to reject the selfishness and greed inherent in much of modern society. This is quite an eery piece, very thoughtful and reserved, the voice loving in its teaching, not harsh or hectoring, wanting the subject to dream and realise her potential, the music perfect in assisting this, the violin and programming creating a gorgeous soundscape.
Foreign Ground has an official video released, and it is embedded below for you. Dripping with the spirit of the near east, the call of the muezzin, you immerse yourself in its culture and landscape and then….you leave, back on the plane to whence you came, the short termism of modern trips wrought large. As you might expect, the track is full of the musical influences of the region, combined with some strong classic rock, so rather like a Kashmir for our times, the chorus as catchy as they come, with those fleeting memories returning to delight when thinking at home, the anarchy of this blasting out as we struggle in the day to day set against the call, the need to escape and return, if only for more fleeting moments.
The title track follows, an instrumental, and a long one at that, only just short of the epic length. There is a primitive energy to this, a roots delight, voices, violin, keyboards, energetic rhythm section, combining traditional folk with more of that near east vibe before segueing into something more recognisable as progressive rock in the vein of an Oldfield or the sorely missed Iona, the guitar solo absolutely taking me there, the beat underneath drawing you in and in.
Flying Dream – the arms dragging you in and then upwards through the sky, far away, a serenity taking over, perhaps a moment of transcendence. This reminds me of Enya in her heyday, that mix of technology in the programming and descriptive voice and instruments to create sense of ghostly wonder at the journey taken.
Princess of the Light has a video which is embedded below for you, another paeon to the innocence of a child, with life and the world in front of her. The animation is as stunning as the music, the vocals enough to melt the coldest of hearts, the guitar haunting, the collective providing for a song dripping with commercial sensibilities, which I was so pleased to see gaining such positivity when I played it recently on my radio show. This is a song which in a decent world would be a smash hit.
Like a Falling Leaf is another instrumental, but far shorter than the title track, highlighting particularly the musical talents of Marco, his piano & guitar creating a picture of a wild and picturesque autumn landscape, the programming and synths building a pleasing intensity.
My Burden is born of that awful pandemic, which affected so many so negatively, and this is a commentary on a relationship ended by it. It is an epic track, so no shortage of ambitious prog intent here. I do like Sylvie Si’s work on the skins on this, driving some very heavy passages alongside the perfect melodic foil in Cartigny, the vocals despairing at times, some of the music angry, almost post rock in their riffs and commentary, dystopian, fighting, proving that Edenya can rock with the best of them, and a wonderful example of versatility on this fine album, but then reasserting that gorgeous pastoral core six minutes in with the achingly sad violin and voice crying out. It explodes again. All human life in its emotional intensity wrought large in one song.
We close with Lady, a future birth, the glowing intensity of pregnancy bringing new life, and hope, into the world. Harp, wind, gentle keys, a soaring voice reflecting on the seed which has been sown, orchestral progressive folk rock allowing the listener acres of space with which to reflect on the miracle of life.
How blessed am I to be given the opportunity to write about such art? Edenya have provided us with something very special here. France is a lovely country, filled with patriotic and special people, and this collective are the musical embodiment of that.
Very highly recommended.