Short Reviews [Lesoir - 2020 - "Mosaic"]

Lesoir gained a lot of attention when they toured supporting Riverside in 2019, and they are now back with their fifth album in ten years. This is a very modern sounding album, due undoubtedly to being able to bring in John Cornfield (Muse, Supergrass, Ben Howard and Robert Plant) and Paul Reeve (vocal producer of Matt Bellamy) as they production team. The quintet have two singers in Maartje Meessen (vocals, piano, flute) and Eleen Bartholomeus (guitar, vocals, synth) which allows for great harmonies and interplay between the two, with the rest of the band being Ingo Dassen (guitar, synth, drum programming), Bob Van Heumen (drums, percussion) and Ruben Heijnsbroek (bass). Musically this has a very commercial feeling to it, with loads of hooks, and whether it was intentional or not there are definitely some Muse-style moments within it, although never the real wall of sound. They move between crossover prog and neo-prog, melodic rock and even pop, and the result is something which is always moving and interesting to listen to without ever getting deep and meaningful. In some ways it is quite lightweight, but there are also some elements which are really interesting. “Is This It” actually has pop rock hit written all over it, with a hook which demands the listener to sing along to. Pleasant and fun without ever becoming essential.