Scherzoo - Scherzoo 04. 2018 France

When it was announced that Scherzoo 04 was to be a departure from their recent avant prog past, and rather more toward a traditional Canterbury sound, I pounced on the new album first chance. With a quartet that consists of two musicians focused solely on electric piano, organ, and mellotron, I had envisioned a Soft Machine II meets 'Nine Feet Underground' Caravan meets In The Court of the Crimson King. Fuzz organ, gymnastic meters, and lush mellotron. Bzzt. Nope. OK, time to get another beer and try this again...

So what do we have here then? Is it Canterbury at all? Yes, yes it is. The electric piano is the dominant instrument (both keyboardists are credited with it as primary), and the organ plays a key role in the melody lines. Mellotron is definitely relegated to cameo status. The music is quite pleasant, with excellent songwriting, and fine melodies. Most of the tones are played straight, so there's no raucous fuzz solos, or crazy time changes, though it's far from static. Every track is excellent in its own right, though there are no standouts either. It does take a couple of listens to penetrate through, so it takes patience to appreciate for certain. Something akin to Gilgamesh, but more exciting than that may imply.

Scherzoo - and band leader Francois Thollot - are tough to figure out. Thollot has a history that includes Heldon like fierce guitar/electronics, Zeuhl, avant prog, and now Canterbury. Would be most interesting to hear a combination of all the above. And I'm more than fine leaving the squonking sax of album #2 out of the picture, as they have done here.

Ownership: CD: 2018 Soleil Zeuhl

10/26/18 (new entry)