Short Reviews [Frant1c - 2024 - "A Brand New World"]

Here we have the debut album by a new French outfit who have delivered us a concept album based on the story of lifelong soulmates Charlie and Hope, who had always spent their lives together. One day, Charlie wakes up alone in the middle of a completely different and devastated world and this is the story of his adventures as he attempts to find his partner. The idea of loss and searching is not new, but this story takes on real poignancy when one realises this is a new project by Anne-Claire Rallo (Nine Skies, Solace Supplice) who has delivered this following on from the death of her husband Eric Bouillette (Nine Skies, The Room, etc.) in 2022. She has been joined on this personal quest by friends and colleagues of them both, so she has been assisted by Alexandre Lamia (Nine Skies, Ingaro), Alexis Bietti (Nine Skies, Genesya), Johnny Marter (Nine Skies, Marillion, Mr. Big, Brian May, Peter Gabriel, Annie Lennox, etc...), Martin Wilson (The Room, Grey Lady Down), Helen Tiron (Sun Q) while it was mixed and mastered by John Mitchell (Lonely Robot, Arena, Asia, Frost, etc.). Martin and Helen take on the lead vocal roles, and I must admit to find it strange to be listening to Martin more than 30 years since I first came across Grey Lady Down and their initial demo tape. They were very active in the London scene back then and I saw them many times on the live circuit, and I note there is a guitar solo on one track from Steve Anderson who I first saw with Sphere before he also joined GLD and was of course also in The Room with both Martin and Eric. The music is polished Neo Prog, which given who is involved is of little surprise, but there are also some quite symphonic elements as well. Outside the rhythm section, and one sax solo (plus the aforementioned guitar lead), all music has been provided by AC, Eric and Alexandre so with three guitarists, three keyboard players (and one violinist) it is no surprise there is a lot going on. It is punchy, powerful, and packed with drama and emotion. The recording process of this must have been very difficult once Eric has passed away, as here we have AC reaching out into the darkness, using others to convey what she is feeling as she searches through life anew, her world turned inside out. It is of no surprise that at times the music is quite angular and causes us to be uncomfortable, but there are also sections of real beauty when all the darkness is cast aside and we have a totally different approach as we find solace. The piano in "The Ballad of Peggy Pratt" is delightful, and in very stark contrast to the chaos we also find ourselves listening to. There is a lot to take in, both lyrically and musically, but it is also a very accessible album due in no part to both the compositions and performances by all involved with the vocals kept to the fore with real clarity. Melodically very strong, the production is spot on and the result is a modern progressive rock album with real style and panache which I thoroughly enjoyed. It will be interesting indeed to see what comes next.