By Keith Walsh
There are a lot of surprises on the new album by Lunear, out of Europe. Working in various locations across Spain and France, the three-man band selected 10 covers from artists they admire, ranging from 80s to the 2010s. Most of the artists on Gostraks are all commercially known on a large scale, but the breadth of tunes – from Britney Spears to Bowie, from Genesis to Marillion – reveals a wide range of tastes, making for an interesting playlist, to say the least.
Depending on where you are, you can stream the album here: Gostraks by Lunear or in the YouTube link below.
I asked the members –Paul J. No on vocals and keyboards, Jean Philippe Benadjer on vocals and guitars, and Sébastien Bournier on vocals and drums about the title of the album. In an email exchange, Jean Philippe writes: “Gostraks = Ghost Tracks. The songs that haunted you, the songs you live with. But also the hidden songs – as you can find on our album, and then, in a more metaphoric way, the songs behind the songs you create.” On Gostraks, each member sings the songs he chose for the album.
Sébastien Bournier: “The idea began with our ‘musical roots’ (hence the tree on the cover) and slowly evolved with the songs that have been haunting us in our lives. Some for a very long time, some from more recently. The Ghosts Songs, The Ghosts Tracks, Gostraks.”
Paul: “It’s impossible to make only one album of all the songs we love or want to cover. The choice was very hard. We also preferred to choose more ‘known’ bands. The songs, some of them were singles but not all of them. I mean we already are ‘unknown’… ;-)”
The first track is a stripped-down cover of “Turn It On Again,” of one of my fave Genesis songs from the Phil Collins era, one that’s heavy on piano. It’s superb and Sebastien’s vocals have a really commercial feel. Sebastien tells me: “For ‘Turn It On Again’ I wanted it to be as close as possible to the 1992 live rendition. I lost a democratic fight on the piano sound but otherwise it’s pretty close.”
Then it’s David Bowie’s “Modern Love,” starting out as a ballad then progressing into the upbeat pop number it always was. I can never get enough Bowie, and I’m always game for a unique interpretation. This is an alt-rock version, beautifully done. Of the cover, Paul tells me: “For example for ‘Modern Love,’ which is kind of perfect in terms of groove, if we have wanted to do the same, we could never have beaten Bowie… I mean, his voice, the stellar production from Nile Rodgers… So I wanted to treat it more as if it was a Lunear song… Slowing down the tempo and beginning with a long retro-pop intro.”
Another 80s cover, “Warriors Of The Wasteland,” affirms that the roots of Lunear run deep and in many directions. Originally from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, this version utilizes synth drums to trick the ear into thinking it’s a cover of “In The Air Tonight” by the aforementioned Phil Collins. In Lunear’s hands, it’s a beautifully sad ballad, and much more effective than the slightly funky and out-of-date sounding original.
Next come two songs by artists I’m less familiar with – “Inside” by Stiltskin and “Sleeping Satellite” by Tasmin Archer. “Inside” has a majestic harder rock sound reminiscent of the 90s Seattle sound, with amazing guitars and vocals. And while I didn’t recognize the title, when I heard the cover of “Sleeping Satellite,” I quickly realized it was a great radio tune from the early 90s that I’ve always appreciated but didn’t know anything about.
Next comes another surprise, a cover of Britney Spear’s “Perfume” from 2013. Not too long ago I checked Britney’s catalogue, and was surprised to discover that she’s a synthpop artist to be taken seriously, despite having been an idol with her share of silly publicity. Replacing the driving techno urgency of the original for kind a guitar-based track with artsy verses, it’s one of the more unconventional recordings on Gostracks, and it’s fun to hear the gender switch. As Paul says: I kind of like Britney Spears. She looks more complicated than the songs she sings. I loved the idea of doing that song, because it’s not what people can expect of us.…this song is very well written by Sia and Chris Braide, very solid songwriters. They have written for many other artists (David Guetta for example) and of course for Sia.”
“Shake The Disease” is an awesomely dynamic interpretation of the Depeche Mode classic, reimagined as a power ballad. Paul says: “For Shake the Disease that I chose, I wanted it to be completely different. As if it was from another band. We tried to be like Linkin Park, but ended doing like Lunear.”
Lana Del Rey makes an appearance, with a stunningly beautiful version of “Venice Bitch.” Lunear capture all of the drama of the original, in a stripped down version with piano and vocals dominating – until the electric guitars and organ kicks in. It’s perfect. As Lunear is somewhat a progressive rock band, “Venice Bitch” reveals the links between the dark pop of Del Rey and the longer song forms of the classic prog bands Lunear admires. “I knew there was no point in trying to redo something that was already perfect,” Sébastien tells me, “so I imagined an arrangement with more and more power as long as the song was advancing: the first verse and chorus to be piano voice only then something a little more like The Beatles with soft drums and a rockier 2nd half, with an instrumental break from another of her songs : ‘Off To The Races.’”
“Renee” from British band Talk Talk keeps all the sentimentality of the original from 1984 with a stripped down version close to the original, but with authentic piano and guitar sounds replacing the synths. It’s a tender and lovely tribute to a band that had a lot of soul. As Jean Philippe explains: “For ‘Renee’ I also knew I didn’t want to change anything in the balance between instruments, music and silence. I only wanted to make it sounds more « live » and to re-introduce some guitar parts as in the live versions. But you must understand that everything was constantly moving with the addition of each other.” The final track on Gostraks, Marillion’s “This Is The 21st Century” gets the long form treatment, with Lunear showing off their deeply prog side, with stellar performances on guitar, drums, and keyboards.
On Gostraks, all the songs flow into one another, as a concept of sorts, and it works, not only a s departure from the more thematic concepts of previous Lunear offerings, but also as a tip of the hat to artists who have made strong impressions on the minds of this talented trio. Synthbeat gives Gostraks our highest recommendation.
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