Short Reviews [Pascal Globensky - 2023 - "Zigzag"]

I am not the only person to be quite a fan of Canadian experimental progressive rock band Miriodor, who were formed all the way back in 1980 and have released ten albums to date, and here we have a solo release from founder and multi-instrumentalist Pascal Globensky. He himself sees these as a series of sketches he has been working on since 2013, many of which were offered to the band and declined, which he then kept playing with. Apparently, he was using very little equipment, just a computer, a music application, a sound card and a keyboard, and while some of the pieces use sections of old Miriodor jams they have been treated and changed. Also, he decided to challenge himself to play shorter material, so six of the 11 songs are less than 2:30 in length with two of those just a minute long and it is very keyboard based. He also describes this as a collage where he has been taking bits and pieces and then adding things, even using "royalty-free" rhythms or sounds which he then edited and treated to fit his requirements. The result is something which at times is interesting but often feels as if there is a lack of vision and purpose, possibly due to the songs being worked on over such a very long period of time. During the years he was working on these there were also three Miriodor albums, and that is obviously where his main focus will have been, so this is less of a complete album and more of something which shows how Pascal operates when on his own. Consequently this is an interesting release, but it will be mostly of interest to those who are already Miriodor fans as opposed to someone coming across Pascal as a solo artist in his own right.