David Maurin : guitars, flute, gong, bass clarinet

Samuel Maurin : bass, stick, voice

Benjamin Croizy : synthesizers, mellotron, church organ, Hammond organ, piano, timpani

Frank Niebel : drums, percussion

Guests :

Roselyne Berthet : vocals

Eric Verdovati : vocals

Anne Cayrol : cello

Hervé Franconi : soprano sax

François Pernel : harp

Audrey Casella : narration

www.chez.com/nil

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progressive rock

A most remarkable release this self produced album conceived and recorded by a collective of French musicians. Remarkable foremost because the album only contains two compositions. So in a way you could think this has something to do with Magma yet once you get to hear this album it has little to do with Zeuhl or the likes. The guitarparts have more in common with the repetitive patterns from Philharmonie whilst from a compositional point of view you could trace resemblances with XII Alfonso. Especially the wide selection of collaborators is rather similar. Particularly the use of different vocalists is a positive factor in order to diversify the various passages in both chapters. Based on Egypt needless to say NIL uses Eastern melodies to underline the atmosphere of the album. This ranges from dreamlike parts to powerful outbursts via jazzy paths. These jazzy interventions amongst others include a short ‘battle’ between drums and bass before eerie keyboards add to the strangeness of the piece. Things become even stranger when ominous male voices come to the fore introducing once again some repetitive guitars. In the softer parts the wonderful sound of fretless bass is heard. In most cases it’s the vocals which inject a new direction. Some parts are truly magnificent when long stretches of string sections are interspersed with fretless bass. This is all disturbed in an abrupt way by means of heavy guitars and choral sounds. Also the harp is a most refreshing element which suddenly pops up. Due to the long compositions plus the fact you don’t get any extra information about subtitles or such it remains difficult to give an exact idea of what to expect but trust me this is a unique concept written and recorded by a bunch of outstanding musicians. If you like you can compare this album with a pure classical work as it also contains all the elements which are demanded in the domain of classical music. This is a superb realisation which will most certainly reveal new elements time and time again even when you’re listening to it again for the fiftieth time. The album was written, arranged and produced by David Maurin, Samuel Maurin, Benjamin Croizy and Frank Niebel. They were helped out by friends from the Academy of Grenoble whilst amongst others the organ was recorded at St. Pierre’s Cathédral in Annecy, France. Right now I can’t find any names to compare this band with so I just keep it with the word : ‘unique’. I’m convinced you’ll feel the same. Apparently this is the band’s third release having released both “Nil” and “Nocturnes” in 1999, two albums which in the meantime have sold out completely !