Detailed Reviews [Copernicus - 2013 - "L'Eternite Immediate"]

Prolusion. The US project COPERNICUS has been ongoing since the late 70's, initially based around the creative talents of Copernicus, Larry Kirwan and Piece Turner, but later on also with other constellations. "L'Eternite Immediate" is a production that originally dates back to 2001, when the album "Immediate Eternity" was released. This production has since been rerecorded in different versions and languages. This particular rendition in French was released through Copernicus’ own label Nevermore, which is marketed and distributed by the US label Moonjune Records.

Analysis. When approaching the works of Copernicus you need to be prepared for what you are about to encounter. It's not that what he does, in general, is all that revolutionary, but it is the manner, in which he goes about it, that is somewhat peculiar. The short description is that this is an album of recitals combined with music. Spoken word and poetry, backed by musicians. Which doesn't reveal all that much really, and in this case less than for other, similar endeavors. One aspect of this is that the music is well developed. The musical backing here might as well has been released as instrumental tracks without being less interesting to any greater extent. The end result would be wildly different sounding of course, but the music is far more developed than a mere musical backdrop for a poet to recite his material on top of. In terms of style the music tends to hover around and include a fair share of jazz-oriented details, with funk-tinged bass motifs, wandering piano motifs and the drums catering for the greater majority of these aspects. The guitar work of Aragundi may emphasize the jazz or jazz-rock tendencies, but just as often he'll set off on blazing guitar solo runs, at times with something of a shred-tinged nature to them. On other occasions I got associations to the harder edged hair metal bands of the 80's and the guitar solo runs they had as a central part of their sound, as far as the sound and style of the guitar soloing on this album is concerned. Dark toned, ominous textures are also supplied at appropriate times, and combined with synth textures this adds to the occasional more majestic sequences as well. Then there is the voice of Copernicus. He's an emotional man with a lot of passion, and it all shows and comes through in his recitals. Fear, doubt, longing and anger are thrown at you, the latter aspect most often appearing to be central. In this case I'll have to stress appears too however, as I'm not at all fluent in French, and thus can't really comprehend what is said. But I find many of his spoken passages to come across as angry sounding, and possibly with more than a bit of angst in them as well. Combined with the music this makes for some fairly intense listening at times, when Copernicus hits off on a rant with a blazing guitar solo on top and energetic rhythms beneath, with wandering light toned piano lines somewhere in the middle, it does create a rather peculiar and unique atmosphere. At best highly intriguing, but sometimes a tad too repetitive in character, at least when you are unable to understand the words spoken. While I'm generally fond of dark, brooding atmospheres, on this production I found the most enthralling creation to be one that explored a rare, delicate mood, however. Il N'Y A Pas Difference, with its light toned, relaxed performance and waltz-oriented tendencies, is a rare gem of subtle beauty in this production of otherwise demanding, darker and fairly intense material. And a highly charming one at that, the odd one out and, in this case, all the better for being just that in my opinion.

Conclusion. Copernicus is a peculiar artist, and one that arguably is more of an acquired taste than many others out there. With French vocals on this production, in the shape of highly emotional, poetic recitals, accompanied by music that probably resides somewhere inside the jazz-rock universe, the mood, atmosphere and overall style explored on this CD aren't ones that you'll encounter all that often. A production that merits an inspection by those curious about how expressive spoken, emotional and poetic vocals combine with music that blends jazz and rock, with plenty of blazing guitar soloing as the icing on a rather peculiar product.

OMB=Olav M Bjornsen: November , 2014
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