Lunear is a rather unknown act from France. Therefore a little introduction is needed. Keyboardist and singer Paul J. No and singing drummer Sebastien Bournier have known each other for twenty years. They've been playing on one another records for a long time and they decided to write songs together. Lyrics and musical ideas were exchanged and this resulted in a large collection of compositions. However they needed somebody extra for the guitars, bass and mix. Bournier invited his old friend Jean-Philippe Benadjer to come aboard. He agreed and contributed on guitars and bass and wrote some songs as well. The rest is of course...history. In the meantime the band released in 2018 their debut Many Miles Away, a classic song album. It was followed by the concept album Curve.Axis.Symmetry in 2020. In 2022 they released their cover album Gostraks. And now in 2024 they came up with From Above. From Above is a four track album and the band's most progressive rock album to date. It opens with the epic piece In Their Eyes. A 25 minutes long composition which is divided into 5 parts. It is about a prisoner of war that will try to escape from his jail at the end of the song. The soundtrack to this epic story is very beautifully done. A lot of great musical parts can be heard throughout the entire composition. Many strong parts performed on the electric guitars and keyboards. It very strongly builds to a musical climax. Vocal wise you have the idea you are listening to the French singer Jean-Jacques Goldman, who used to be the singer of Tai Phong but later on started a solo career. Nice is the part where they try to copy a short part of Shadow Of The Hierophant, originally written by Steve Hackett for his first album Voyage Of The Acolyte released in 1975. But I can't blame them doing this because they are probably fans of this excellent guitarist. Cathedral is next. A song which opens with majestic keyboard parts. The sound of a church organ can be heard as well. I guess not so strange if you name your song Cathedral. The song features some excellent guitar and keyboard parts and therefore it is a good progressive rock tune I can say! With again a great musical climax. Followed by So Let's Go. The shortest piece of music on the album. And also the less complicated song as well. The opening of the song is performed on the acoustic guitar. Followed by the complete band. Without any doubt the perfect tune to release as a single to promote album. The album ends with The Tears Of Nostalgia. Back to more progressive rock influences. It's a song about mental health and struggling with life. Therefore some serious music is needed and the band goes for it. The drama is in full splendour during this song. The electric guitar has a leading role and the bass comes up front many times as well. To finish it off an excellent synthesizer solo is the cream of the crop. Of course you will ask what does this band sound like. But sometimes it is not easy to pigeon hole a certain band about their influences. But in general you could say From Above is for fans of Barclay James Harvest, Supertramp, Genesis, Alan Parsons Project, Pink Floyd and Marillion with Steve Hogarth. I am really looking forward to what the future has in store for this wonderful band. However for their next album don't expect From Above 2.0 . They don't think that they can do better than this album, so they'll have to do something else. But they promised it will be epic. Let's wait and see! For now both thumbs up for this fine release! **** Henri Strik (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
