Loic Bernardeau : drums, lead vocals

Sébastien Constant : keyboards

David Dosnon : bass

Anthony Gabard : guitars

Igor Polisset : electric and acoustic drums

Manu Fournier: violin & saxophone

Hélène Sonnet : flute, vocals

Gaelle Deblonde : violin

Manu Bouriaud : viola

Mehdi Rossignol : cello

http://www.taal.free.fr

www.taal@free.fr

You will like this if you like Zappa, Isildur’s Bane

A first glimpse at the artwork (mainly on the inside of the booklet) reminded me of the first three albums of Belgian band Machiavel. Indeed the designs of naked women come close to the ones used by Belgian’s number one prog outfit as designed by their longtime friend Celle. From a musical perspective however Taal delivers something completely different. Augmented with real violins and cello the distorted guitar in the opening section of the track ‘Skymind’ takes us towards atonal soundscapes which when assisted by saxophone does in a way have it’s Soft Machine moments. When speeded up we arrive in true Cuneiform land with firm avantgarde being displayed throughout. Taal will always mingle so many different genres into one boiling melting pot of influences that it will remain very difficult to put a certain label onto their music. ‘Yellow garden’ begins in true Kansas fashion and then switches towards an alternative waltz which soon gets the company of weird voices. The distorted guitar will act like our guide through this track as well as duelling with the viola’s. It’s ingenious how tubular bells get introduced in this track adding a certain mysticism together with the dark sounding strings. Just like the guitar of Brian May has a unique sound for some strange reason I could hear the Queen maestro fit in well during the intro for ‘Blind child’ before it changes towards kind of a ‘gypsy’ atmosphere. Whatever kind of atmosphere Taal evokes, whatever kind of ‘speed’ they use, whether they deliver electric parts or authentic folky acoustic parts they do it in a superb way, inimitable and 100% original. In fact you can listen to this music a thousand times and still you won’t be able to find an appropriate label. Fact is that the various bandmembers cater for so many different musical styles that their very own music becomes a rich varied hotchpotch of influences. It’s the only way how a fragile flute can still work alongside powerful drums and deadly guitars as in ‘The purple queen’s lips’ where at one given time the energy resembles the power of the punk era and here reminds me of our Japanese friends Happy Family.

Taal also fully experiments with tonality and volume. During ‘The egg-shaped moon’ they cover the entire width of that volume by going extremely wild and loud against the very intimate parts where you can almost hear every single whisper. The band’s music is so captivating that you want to hear more as the album comes to an end. Nothing seems to have a strict format so everything is possible. Throughout their music you can also always trace a healthy amount of humour which perfectly illustrates that this band really feels at ease with what they do. ‘Stratus’ combines both Eastern influences with circus atmospheres and Zappa-esque modulations in order to deliver something quite different and spectacular. It’s not the kind of music that will sell millions of copies but it certainly is music of today containing both world music and technical prowess in order to deliver something universal. The way Taal tackles their new found freedom results in a breathtaking experience for any listener which will be able to listen to the same disc plenty of times before certain themes will become familiar. “Skymind” certainly puts my mind in the sky ... without mind-expanding products !