Band: Ex-Vagus

CD Title: “Ames Vagabondes”

Label: Unicorn Digital

Release Date: 2006

It’s great to come across new CD releases from progressive rock bands that manage to capture a feeling, a sound, even a style from the seventies and yet sound every bit modern and contemporary. That’s very much the case with the new Ex-Vagus release entitled Ames Vagabondes.

This French five-piece group from Grenoble came into being in 1995 and with this new CD, their fifth counting the 1999 demo have really captured a special sound. Consisting of Dominique Barboyon (keyboards), Eric Vedovati (vocals), Thierry Lesaffre (drums), Loic Consolin (bass) and Xavier Le-Loupp (guitar) their musical sound is very reminiscent of the great French bands such as Ange, Atoll and Mona Lisa. And yet as I mentioned earlier they sound very modern. Perhaps it’s mostly the vocal style that hearkens back to that theatrical delivery that is most nostalgic, although there are moments where they manage to reproduce that same keyboard tone that Ange was famous for. It’s all mixed in with their own technique making it a hugely satisfying listen.

Clocking in at just over an hours worth of music, there are eight tracks here ranging in length from five-minutes to a couple a little over eleven-minutes. The music is very much in the French theatrical symphonic mode, with the various changes in time and tempo occurring throughout but mostly it’s the changes in mood that stand out for me, going from soft and pastoral to angry and aggressive in a heartbeat. The stylistic shifts are smooth as silk, demonstrating the experience Ex-Vagus have gained performing together over the past decade. The disc has the added bonus of having Christian Decamps (Ange) providing his own brand of harmony vocals on the track “Le Cheval des Nebuleuses.”

If you are a fan of the bands mentioned or others of this progressive rock style Ex-Vagus will be a welcome addition to your library. Ames Vagabondes captures the best of the classic French progressive rock style with an emphasis on songs that incorporate melody as well as an over-the-top expressiveness. Songs such as the eleven-minute “Au Domaine des Trois Collines” display some infectious guitar playing with a very catchy hook running through the piece. But actually all the compositions have a perfect balance between keyboards and guitars all backed up with a great rhythm section. Ex-Vagus gets high-marks for creating a truly enjoyable listening experience. I’ve been recommending it to all my prog friends.