Product Reviews

Cyrille Verdeaux is the keyboardist for the French symphonic rock band Clearlight which released their first album in 1973. The band has since reformed and released Impressionist Symphony this year. Tribal Hybrid Concept is another recent offering from Verdeaux.

This one is far removed from anything deemed progressive as Verdeaux has taken various samples from animals and singing/voices from different cultures and tribes and has combined his ample use of keyboards. The samples were collected by guitarist Pascal Menetrey who sadly passed away in 2006.
The music here is quite tranquil, almost new age at times, although it is very rhythmic with an abundance of tribal sounds and electronic dance beats. Often the chants are laid over softer keys as in the first track "Terre Australe" where many samples are employed including animal noises. The pan flute is a nice accent. "Raoni's Song", with spoken words by Chief Raoni, of the Amazonian Kayapo Tribe, is more electronic with pop flavoured dance beats and a catchy vocal arrangement. "Trance Fusion" is just what is says, a mixture of trance and African rhythms. The rest of the album does not stray very much from the first few tracks.
Whether this mixture of electronic dance music, trance and ethnic rhythms will appeal to you is hard to say. For a trance/electronic album it seems well done, although I am not an expert in that particular area. Although I did find this music pretty catchy, overall the album didn't really grab me and I doubt I will pull this one out very often.

Track Listing:
1. Terre Australe (4:21)
2. Raoni's Song (3:22)
3. Shawnee Froid (4:00)
4. Trance Fusion (5:20)
5. Organic Trance (4:28)
6. Papou Pas Pris (6:12)
7. Rain Dance (5:12)
8. Aztec Tartare (4:25)
9. Zeph Here (5:08)
10. Tuva Bene (5:30)
11. Trance Pire (5:28)
12. Soufi Dance (5:25)
13. Trance Connexion (5:18)
14. Amazon Corazon (5:24)