By Keith Walsh
From Above, the new album by European trio Lunear, reaches new heights for the band and revives some important progressive rock traditions. There’s much to unpack musically and lyrically, in a sonically and thematically rich set with magnificent writing and performing by Jean Philippe Benadjer on bass, guitars, vocals, Sébastien Bournier on drums and vocals, and Paul J. No on lead vocals and keyboards. (Part 1 one of my new interview with Lunear is at Popular Culture Beat.)
From Above follows their 2018 debut Many Miles Away, which was a commercially leaning prog rock set with tidy rock songs, and their second effort, 2020’s Curve, Axis, Symmetry, which is a concept album presenting the theme of immortality, Gostraks, a cool set of covers, came out in 2022. This new album is a strong return to the days of long form prog music, featuring a twenty-five minute opening track. In addition to daring musicianship and existentially informed lyrics by Bournier, From Above is also brilliantly imaginative from a composition perspective.
On their earliest works, the three members of Lunear worked remotely, transmitting tracks back and forth across Europe to their respective home studios. From Above is their first album created with a Benadjer, Bournier, and No together in the same place, composing and working out ideas. And while previous works contain excellent songwriting and performances, on From Above, there is a cohesiveness of effort that finds the players completely in sync as they capture lighting in a bottle.
The opener, “In Their Eyes” is an epic 25 minute prog tune with magnificent chord changes and odd meters –a 9/8 time signature to be precise. It starts off electronic with the syncopated drums then builds into a rock form when vocals coming in telling the story as narrated from within a prison cell. Lots of texture and tonal changes come while the listener realizes that Lunear have rescued progressive rock with this masterpiece. There’s elegant piano, tasty guitar, and grand themes. The tune concerns an imprisoned man and his spiritual journey inside four walls. It’s actually a suite of five songs in one.
As Bournier told me, “Yeah, obviously, all three of us are fans of Genesis, of course, and we wanted to write a record that that was paying tribute to old classic, progressive records. That’s why we wanted to write an epic twenty five minute song that fills the first side of a record. In fact Genesis never did such a record because the only one that is close is on Foxtrot, called “Supper’s Ready.” (Part one of my interview with Lunear is at Popular Culture Beat).
Starting off with glitch electronics, choir, and church organ, the second track “Cathedral” features sweet major to minor transitions, miraculous guitar and synth solos that intertwine and get lost in each other. The production references past prog: chugging guitars buried down, as well as synth arpeggiations that evoke the grand days of arena rock through its nearly ten minute length.
The third track, “So Let’s Go” starts off with acoustic guitar and vocals, then bursts into dramatic pop with bouncy chorus “take a look my shiny collection.” It’s a simple upbeat song with hints of the naïvely sweet tunes that emerged after new wave became more mainstream. As Benadjer explains in our interview, the poppier feel is due to his inputs into the tune.
“The Tears Of Nostalgia” is a heartbreaking, confessional song of weariness and despair with Bournier on vocals. In its ten-minute span it progresses from melancholia, with just acoustic guitar, piano, vocals and then orchestra, until at the four-minute point a tonal shift occurs and the song ascends into a dynamic stadium ballad evoking the great work of pioneers Pink Floyd and Genesis.
This is an album by skilled composers and performers who appreciate great prog while making something completely unique and beautiful, even incorporating a surprising amount of techno pop and new wave references. In the liner notes at Lunear Music dot com, the band credits David Paredes with mixing and mastering, as well they should. From Above by Lunear is pristine, elegant and powerful.
Lunear Music Dot Com
Lunear On Bandcamp
‘From Above’ On Apple Music
‘From Above’ On Spotify
‘From Above’ On Deezer
Lunear On Facebook
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