If you’re in need of progressive music that really deserves its name, I suggest you turn your ears towards France. This may at first seem counterintuitive, but bands like Chromb, Ultra Zook and the whole Dur et Doux roster have shown that there is still progress to be found in a genre that is nowadays more often than not turned towards the past.

This doesn’t mean that you won’t find influences of the masters with Fulguromatic, but the duo consisting of Paul Cossé (Fender Rhodes, automated flute, bottle flute, voices, xylophone, piano, percussions, banjoline) and Lancelot Rio (drums, automated bass synth, voices, xylophone, piano, synth, bird call, percussions, guitars) have their very own way of playing music. First of all, the two of them play a lot of different instruments, as you can gather from the aforementioned listing. Secondly, the names of some of their instruments may seem unknown to you. In fact, they are members of Filutherie, a collective of artists that among others, act as savage luthiers build their own instruments, like for instance the automated flute which you can see demonstrated in their YouTube videos.

It would be boring if the whole endeavour were only about creating strange sounds. Fortunately, Fulguromatic also know how to write great songs. Some of them, like the opener The Sigh Of A Whittled Grove and the following The Unconceivable Curse Of Atahualpa, have more progressive leanings, with few vocals only, and an overall sound that combines the whimsy of the Canterbury scene with the tropical beauty of Christophe Chassol’s music. The short Hidden Realm has very angular drumming and still manages to sound like a miniature version of Jamiroquai. Top 5 des citations d’Albert Einstein is a humorous track about alleged quotes of Albert Einstein, and comes with a wild rhythm that recalls the zeuhl genre as invented by Magma. Nutriscore Z is also a more accessible track that still has a lot of unusual sounds, but now that we are halfway through, we shouldn’t be surprised by all the surprises anymore.

Lil’ Appeau is a mellow track that prominently features a bird call device, and it is here where I feel most reminded of Chassol. The two last tracks, An Odd Bird’s Call and Grmmf, turn again to the duo’s more instrumental sound, thus concluding a truly wonderful album.

Xenharmonic composer Harry Partch invented in the mid-20^th century his own instrumentarium when he felt constricted by what typical orchestras had to offer. In some ways, Fulguromatic follow in his footsteps, and combine thus the warm analogue sound of early 1970s progressive rock with the timeless pursuit of new ideas and sounds. That way, they have come up with a debut album that eventually doesn’t sound like anything that I’ve heard before, in a good way. More bands should have the courage to venture into new territory.

8 songs

43:26 minutes

***** *****

Genre: progressive rock

Label: áMARXE

Released: 4^th April 2025

Artist pages:
Homepage
Facebook
YouTube