Reviews roundup – Owlle vs. Your Favourite Enemies vs. Jouis vs. Gandalf’s Fist vs. Seven7

Reviews roundup – Owlle vs. Your Favourite Enemies vs. Jouis vs. Gandalf’s Fist vs. Seven7

OWLLE
France
Aztec

I don’t really approve of the French.  And music isn’t really their thing.  I mean eighties metallers Trust aside, you can count the number of good French musical artists on the fingers of no hands. But, lo and behold, here’s a French electro pop performer who’s made a good record.  Remarkable.

She’s got a nice voice, but it’s the quality of the songs that really stand out.  There’s a handful of songs here that could be big pop hits given the right airplay and promotion.  It actually starts with the least interesting song, ‘Fog’, but after that it’s a rare treat.  Two songs in particular – ‘Don’t Lose It’ and ‘Ticky Ticky’ should be burning up a dancefloor somewhere near you, for quite some time.  Assuming that the kids still do that sort of thing.

There’s also a killer ballad in the shape of ‘Free’, which is a piano led delight.  There’s a rare talent at work here, and one that should be topping charts everywhere.

YOUR FAVOURITE ENEMIES
Between Illness And Migration
Graphite

Hmmm. How very nineties.  Of course, I would imagine that to Your Favourite Enemies, the nineties is like really, really old, like your Grandads time, so fair enough.

It’s that sort of alt-metal meets indie vibe with electronic overtones that MTV were fond of back when they played music.  Sort of a grungy Filter.  They’ve been on the go since 2006, and are certainly competent performers.  Oh, and they’re from the Canadian colonies which explains the vocal style of Alex Foster, alongside Jeff Beaulieu and Sef on guitars, Ben Lemelin on the bass, Miss Isabel on vocals and keyboards and Charles “Moose” Allicy on drums.

At times, they do go a bit too eighties indie for me, but then that was a loathsome time for music, as far as I’m concerned, but it’s probably a good thing if they want the UK music press to pay attention.  And they do have a couple of really good songs to their name with ‘A View From Within’ the standout.

JOUIS
Dojo
Beetroot

Now this is an interesting one, even if they do come from Brighton.  It’s certainly got a devil-may-care attitude to musical styles as it jumps all over the place, from folk to prog to jazz, often within the same song.  Well played, Jouis, well-played.  I assume it’s pronounced to rhyme with Louis, but then I’m not a hipster with one ironic eyebrow and a groomed set of whiskers.

Back to the music, and there are some really interesting twists and turns here, with a particular emphasis on lovely vocal harmonies.  Add is some inventive percussion, good to decent songs and some adventurous psychedelic shades, and Jouis are definitely a band worth listening to.

Granted, they do sometimes have a quick look round at their own arses, and think “hmm”, but by and large they manage to stay close to the song.  The best of those are ‘All That Is And Is One’ and ‘Hyperception’, and this is a record that psych fans should have a good listen to.

GANDALF’S FIST
A Forest Of Fey
independent

Album number five from the Cumbrian prog monsters, and it’s an absolute delight.  Expanded to a four piece with Dean Marsh and Luke Severn are officially joined by the rhythm section of Chris Ewen and Stefan Hepe alongside an array of guests including Troy Donockley, John Mitchell, Matt Stevens, Dave Oberlé and Clive Nolan, this is one of the prog albums of the year.

Of course, it’s not just prog, it’s symphonic rock and folk-metal in amongst a myriad of other things, but it’s never less than fabulous.  It’s silly to try to pick highlights, as it’s an album without any real lowlights, but the depth of imagination that’s went into this is quite remarkable.

I know you’re not supposed to have a favourite child, but if the rest of the album isn’t listening, then I would probably pick ‘Garden’s Of The Lost’, aided and abetted by the guesting Troy Donockley and Melissa Hollick.  Folk-prog-rock of the highest order.  ‘The Circus In The Clearing’ has a metallic edge and the proggiest is probably ‘The World We Created’.

An absolute joy, I think I need a wee lie down now.

SEVEN7
The Follower
MGP Records

It’s only a fortnight since I last encountered Swiss-born guitarist, Nicolas Meier.  See he is currently playing guitar in the Jeff Beck Band and appears on the Jeff Beck DVD “Live In Tokyo” which was reviewed elsewhere on these pages.  Away from that he also has his own jazz group, the Nicolas Meier Group his metal combo, Seven7.

This is their third release, and it’s really rather good.  Certainly, the musical performance is peerless, as you would expect from someone of his pedigree, but that aside it’s the Middle Eastern and tribal influences that are brought to bear on the basic metal sound, that makes this stand out from the crowd.

There’s also a hint of prog metal hither and thither, as well as some nods to the nu-metal sounds of the nineties, and when the songs match the performance, as they do on the likes of ‘Palms’ and ‘Magic Box’, then it’s a sound worth hearing.