Quality over quantity, always.
Behind the mask --- Red Sand --- 2012 (Self-released)
Okay, so I made a mistake in announcing what albums were to be reviewed this week, but it's sort of understandable. I've been listening to “Music for sharks” for a few weeks now, and it's a damn fine album. Unfortunately, for our purposes here it's not eligible as it was actually released back in 2009, but from what I've heard from this band this album should be as good if not better. So apologies if you were expecting a review of “Music for sharks” --- I'm sure I'll get around to it in the new year. But for now, we're concentrating on albums released this year, so we're looking at their new one.
All of which probably means nothing to you. Red Sand, you ask? Who the hell are they, and why should I care? Essentially the solo project of one man, Simon Caron, who you're unlikely to have heard of unless you know the other bands he was involved in, such as Fenix and Ocean (yeah, thought not: me neither), who took a break from the music biz for some time but eventually returned to it and put together Red Sand in 2004, putting out their first album that year with four more following, the last being released in 2009, that aforementioned “Music for sharks”. This, then, is their fifth and latest album. Based in Canada, Red Sand have been receiving a lot of praise from those over there in the know about progressive rock, and look to have a pretty bright future if they, in common with many Canadian acts, can break out of the somewhat insular world of Canadian rock music and walk out onto the world stage.
Red Sand are a little unusual in that their albums are usually quite low in terms of track count. Their first three albums had only four (yeah, I said four!) songs each, though some of them were epics in fairness, with 2005's “Gentry” having one that was eighteen minutes and one that was nineteen, while “Human trafficking” had a sixteen and an eighteen. In fact, “Music for sharks”, although it had two extra tracks, so six in all, was the first album not to feature two songs over ten minutes long, having just the one, “Shark man”, which runs for just over sixteen. This one pushes that boundary even further, with six tracks but the longest of which is a mere (!) eleven minutes, with some quite short ones too.
“Zero of war” opens the album, with strong eastern elements in the melody, powerful guitars from Simon Caron and thundering percussion from Perry Angellino, a thick bassline from Matthieu Rosselin carrying the opening melody until vocalist Matthieu Lessand comes in with a strong vocal and then the keyboards that have characterised Red Sand for years and damned them --- unfairly --- as Fish-era Marillion rip-offs take control, and you can see why people say this about them. Like recently reviewed Mystery's links to Yes though, or even Big Big Train's protestations that they are not Genesis, these similarities, while striking, are surface, and if you dig below that veneer to the real music and heart of this band you'll find a lot more going on.
Again, there's Steve Rothery-like guitar in the piece, but then Simon has been influenced over his life by the work of the Marillion guitarist, as well as giants like Gilmour and Albert Collins, so something is bound to translate through into his own work. But listen for the subtle nuances in his playing, and though at first you might think you were listening to Steve, you can soon make out that this guy is a whole different kettle of fish (sorry!) and has his own style, which blends the influences of all his heroes into one overarching whole.
Truth to tell, over its eight and a half minute run there's not that much in the way of vocals on “Zero of war”, making them the more effective when they come back in near the end and you realise what an asset Matthieu Lessand is to Red Sand, and how well, and sparingly, they use him. But of course it's Caron's band, and his guitars and keyboards take centre stage most of the time, showing him to be a real virtuoso on both instruments.
The title track then is the longest, as mentioned, just under eleven and a half minutes, and opens with indeed a very Marillionesque chiming guitar, with some squealy keyboards backing and then we hear how Lessand sounds when he tones it down, his voice still strong and powerful but quite restrained. You can hear the French accent (should I say Canadian? I'm not sure which is more acceptable) leaking through, but his English is perfect and the end result is a sort of exotic blend of dialects and tones which makes his singing that much more effective. It's a slow start to the song, but there's plenty of time to change it up, as we're only in the third minute.
Big breakout guitar solo from Caron then, on the back of slow, steady drumbeats from Angellino, more Mark Kelly-style keys coming into the melody as it ramps up then falls back in the fifth minute, before Caron unleashes a second solo, very evocative and emotional, continuing into the seventh where it picks up the tempo a little, the percussion and bass changing to match Caron's lead. And still it goes on, into the eighth with no signs of stopping: certainly one of the longest guitar solos I've heard, falling finally to rippling piano and bass as we head into the ninth minute, and again it's clear that the vocal line on this song too is going to be sparse, in fact it's well into the ninth when Lessand comes back in on the back of the piano melody. He sings more strongly now as the song moves towards its final minutes and begins to wind down, ending on, you guessed it, another fine guitar solo, but this time evoking much more of Gilmour than Rothery, quite similar in small ways to the ending of “Comfortably numb”.
It's clear, as the album goes on, that Red Sand are primarily a vehicle for Simon Caron's guitar playing, and this is shown again in the short instrumental which he calls “Reflection”, a minute and a half of lovely laidback acoustic work, featuring him solo, and then “Memory of past” opens with a big growling synth then some sharp strummed guitar lines, the synth settling down to a nice soft piano which then takes over the song, joined by what sounds like a violin or cello, and with the song two minutes already into its five, you have to wonder if this is another instrumental? As the drums crash in and the electric guitar fires off, it seems obvious that it is, and the tempo rises slightly as Caron's guitar again takes over, the piano replaced by synthesiser lines now a good bit further down in the mix.
You could, perhaps, chide Caron for his overuse of the guitar, and it certainly is the star of just about every track, but then, when you hear him play you sort of understand why he gives so much time to his weapon of choice. I mean, he's good on keys too, but it's at the fretboard that he really shines, and really, it's hard to imagine getting tired of listening to his playing. That said, some variety might be nice, not to mention some more vocals. The Marillion influences come back on the rocky “Mask of liberty”, with an opening almost lifted out of “He knows you know”, but some nice choral vocals on the synth lift the song away from such comparisons as it develops.
Lessand emulates Magnum's Bob Catley as he breaks in with the vocal along a busy keyboard line and as another guitar solo hits, and for the first time I hear backing vocals here, though they could be his multi-tracked. Nice little carnival-style keyboard-driven melody about halfway through before the choral vocals come back in and the guitar chimes in workmanlike as the squeaky keys return, then a lovely mournful little guitar solo backed by bass brings the song home as slow, steady percussion joins in, then we're into the closer.
“Veil of insanity” features some nice violin and acoustic guitar, a slow, balladic feel to it, then a sort of incongruous hard guitar before piano takes over and Lessand's tortured vocal takes the song into new dimensions with a fine performance, perhaps his best on the album. It does however fade out a little too ineffectually, though strangely enough my copy has an unnamed seventh track on it which is a really nice instrumental, mostly led by keys and percussion. Whether that's meant to be part of the album, is a track from another, or is an extra I don't know. Not surprisingly, information on Red Sand is not exactly Wiki-friendly. I would like it if this were the closer though: it would make more sense.
TRACKLISTING
1. Zero of war
2. Behind the mask
3. Reflection
4. Memory of past
5. Mask of liberty
6. Veil of insanity
To be fair, I like “Music for sharks” better than this album. For one thing, the vocalist is better utilised there, although maybe that's because it's Matthieu Lessand's first outing with Red Sand. But the music just seems a little tighter on MFS than here. That's not to say this is not a great album; it certainly is, but with only six tracks to judge them on I think it was something of a mistake to have so much of it instrumental. The album is, essentially, an instrumental one with the odd vocal thrown in. A strange idea, but yet it does seem to work. I'll be watching closely for their next release, and having only listened to MFS up to now, I think I'll have to go back and catch up on their earlier work too.
Don't let the strangely cartoonish album sleeve fool you: these are some very serious musicians!