Philharmonie - Le Dernier Mot

Year of Release: 1999
Label: Cuneiform Records
Catalog Number: Rune 124
Format: CD
Total Time: 47:01:00

It's with pain in my heart that I have to review the band Philharmonie's final album by means of the rightly titled Le Dernier Mot. This combo, with its music strongly built on the legacy of Robert Fripp, puts a final mark after a ten-year productive period. The interesting trek by ex-Shylock guitarist Frédéric L'Epée and his boys has given us five albums filled with wonderful instrumental beauty, yet the mounting problems meant these guys had to end the journey.

They started out as three guitarists, yet the rhythm was enhanced with the introduction of a drummer on their third album. Beginning as a threesome without a drummer, evolving as a foursome with drummer, only to stop as a trio with drummer, it's the mathematical simplicity itself. As a trio with guitarist Frédéric L'Epée, drummer Volodia Brice and the Warr-guitar of Brian Ros, seven long compositions were written in the idyllic surroundings of Antibes, France. "Métamorphose" sort of reminds me of an acoustic sounding Liquid Tension Experiment but it's mainly the Fripp escapades of L'Epée such as in "Le Dernier Mot" which are so damn typical for Philharmonie. We will certainly miss this band, yet that was once said of Shylock as well, and look where it brought us. They will undoubtedly be followed!

Tracklisting:
Rondo Argentin (6:22) / M?tamorphose (6:20) / Sans R?ponse (5:30) / Bruine (6:31) / Le Dernier Mot (8:00) / Hannibal ? Capoue (9:30) / Campanile (5:28)

Musicians:
Fr?d?ric L'Ep?e - guitars
Bernard Ros - Warr guitar
Volodia Brice - drums

Discography:
Beau Soliel (1990)
Les Elephants Carillonneurs (1993)
Nord (1994)
Rage (1996)
Le Dernier Mot (1998)

Genre: RIO

Origin FR

Added: February 1st 2000
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

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