From Nice in the southwest of France, we have Erewan, a singer-songwriter taking his cue from the folkier end of the progressive spectrum, something this website is instinctively interested in. You progheads will recognise the name of Alexandre Lamia of Nine Skies, a hugely talented musician, and in addition to playing on a couple of tracks, he recorded, mixed and mastered this album, Soul is the Key.
It is available on Bandcamp at https://erewan.bandcamp.com/album/soul-is-the-key and we will discuss all eleven pieces of music. First, below there is a video teaser for the album to view.
We start with Greetings from Slumberland, probably about the nicest place in the deep, dark, winter months. Our ancestors had far more sense than us, that’s for sure. It starts with the crackle of a fire set against the storm outside before exploding into a gorgeous pastoral symphonic soundscape, the pipes taking us on their unique ride, before we get a warm glow from a proud guitar solo. This wonderful instrumental is as good a modern folk-rock track as you will hear, with its thumping drums leading a charge into the peak mid-song. Simply stunning, the close reminding you of Oldfield’s Celtic rock at its best.
How do you follow that? With Fantasy Worlds is what, featuring the prolific Xavier Boscher on lead guitar. Tales of dragons, wizards, vampires in forbidden forests, the very heart of our need for escape from the travails of real life. The guitar is at the forefront from the off, some class riffs, a whistle keeping time impressively with the rhythm section. It all races along at a fair old pace, and the story is told with panache. A thoroughly enjoyable romp embedded below.
Still Sleeping features the talent of Dothy Lorenzetti on vocals, a new name here at Lazland. Alexis Bietti, the talented Nine Skies & Platypus Planet bass player, also joins proceedings, creating a fine melody at the foundations of the track. The writer is dreaming. He sees a world in which there is no conflict, the government(s) don’t lie, and mankind has finally matured. It is, though, to me a song of hope that this daydream will one day, finally, come to fruition. Maybe not in my lifetime, but one day, looking back upon this madness all around us. The violin is mournful, the words in parallel, and Lorenzetti provides some lovely harmonies alongside Erewan. The closing lead guitar is excellent, full of life.
High Fever has Patrice Ricolvi on guitar, and he demonstrates an impressive classic rock sensibility. This is a tale of those nightmares which visit us when tortuously ill with flu and suchlike. There is a lovely bassline from the outset beneath deceptively simple keys before the guitar enters the fray, impressively, once again in perfect synch with the pipes. I like the fragility of the vocals on this as well.
Salvador’s Window has memories of a woman standing at the window, looking out waiting for someone, or something, a memory. This has the first noticeable use of piano as lead, and the interaction of this and then the voice with the acoustic guitar is wistful. I really like this piece of music, a pastoral delight.
Reaching You has our songwriter pining for his love’s pouty lips, racing along during the night to get back to her. The whistle races along with the car, the guitar riffs urgent, the rhythm section pushing matters in a heavier track I find perhaps a tad less convincing than much else, although that is tempered by a couple of fine electric guitar solos, especially the one taking us to the close.
Revealing Walls recalls anxiety issues, lost in a deadly bubble of self, fear, loathing, not dangerous in reality, but that knowledge is useless whilst in the grip of the phantom pain or condition. It is suitably darker in tone, the guitar and bass riffs especially dystopian, a distorted voice creating that disassociation that all anxiety sufferers experience at some point, and some surging synths rise above so well. A song which speaks to this writer from personal experience.
Blackening Sky has the writer trapped in the mind fog, no matter what the meteorological season, a blackening sky threatening wellbeing, life full of melancholy. There is some impressive guitar work on this, the acoustic instrument bringing a sense of both urgency as lead and underlying rhythm. The vocal performance is very strong, oozing self, some nice harmonies, and some more good use of the pipes. Despite its melancholic subject, the piece does have the feel of something commercial enough to warrant a single release.
There’s a Way has Lamia on lead guitar, and Chris York on vocals, who wrote the lyrics which tell us of a dream of togetherness. The piano melody to begin is lovely, Erewan having a real gift of making serious, thinking music accessible, the two voices combining to distinctive, operatic effect, the violin giving way to a superb guitar burst. Really quite lovely as the intensity builds to the unknowing place, full of yearning, yet also hope for us all.
The title track is the penultimate offering. It speaks of the cycle of life, all these souls on this spinning slab of rock, how we are nothing but stardust, and exhorting us all to make the most of our all too brief time on earth. This is a long track in comparison to all else here, over eight minutes long. The lead vocal is pushed right to the top of the mix, and there are some nice vocal interactions with Lamia, Lorenzetti, and Alan Roberts. There is a sense of grandness on this track, something full of ambition to match the philosophy behind the meaning, an understated guitar solo prodding the mind more than any blast from the speakers, dripping with feeling and sympathy with the song’s intent, some symphonic sound pouring from the synths before the final quarter takes on a racier rock theme. Regrettably, this one was received too late in Lazland to get a 2025 award, but it would have been a shoo-in. Superb.
We close with Ain’t a Farewell, an instrumental again featuring Alexandre on lead guitar. It is the acoustic guitar against a soulful synth which takes the opening passage, with a flute and recorder providing that bucolic sense of the cover art, a man staring up to the sky full of wonder, sometimes with longing, the violin so mournful, but also of excitement, this when the lead guitar explodes from our speaker, folk rock at its very finest. The closing passage gives us the space to breathe in the face of eternity, the wind whistling against our beating heart.
2025 was as fine a year for quality as I can remember from France, a nation dripping with musical talent and heritage. To this fine roster can easily be added Erewan, who has provided us with an intelligent discourse set to a wide-ranging musical palette.
It is heartily recommended that you pop along to the Bandcamp page, listen, and invest some francs.