Despite Covid-19, 2020 has been a great year of music. 2021 promises to be even better, with bands stuck at home, dreaming up new material. Some bands, like Lesoir, were prepared for 2020, with a new release, and they are capturing the attention of stay at home music lovers.
Lesoir released their new album, Mosaic on the 27th of March, 2020. They have a 3-album discography, which includes: Transience, released in 2013, Luctor Et Emergo, released in 2014, and Latitude, released in 2017.
This Dutch band is made up of Maartje Meessen, on vocals, flute, and piano; Eleen Bartholomeus, on vocals, guitar, keyboards, and percussion; Ingo Dassen, on bass, vocals and steel pedal guitar; and Bob van Heumen, on drums.
“Lesoir enjoyed a successful five-week tour as ‘special guests’ of the Polish band Riverside in the spring of 2019”. That experience, helped inspire the music which would become Mosaic. They have also enlisted the talents of sound maestro John Cornfield, who was instrumental in shaping the sound of Muse’s legendary album, Absolution. HisSawmills Studio, and the ears of The Pineapple Thief-front man Bruce Soord, as co-producer, have helped Lesoir shape its sound well.
That sound is a powerful balance between beautiful and strong female vocals mixed well with heavy, progressive music. But what I enjoy most is that this band understands what has made so many bands successful over the years. Balance the hard, powerful moments with enough pauses and quieter moments of reflection, to help make the music sustainable. Also add enough interesting elements and lyrics, to your sound, to keep people searching the depths of your songs, for all that they missed the last time they listened. Like all good marketing, keep them coming back for more.
“Mosaic”, the opening track, begins with soft guitar, deep bass chords, and Maartje Meessen’s beautiful vocals, “Tell me why I wander in delusion. I’m not the decision-making type. I do need someone who wakes me, now and then, something to hold on tight. To you I tell what makes me wonder, what’s on my mind”. A partner reaching out to communicate more effectively with her significant other. The best moments are the choruses, when keyboards and electric guitar/bass come together for a wonderful potion of harmonization. Not my favorite track, they could have opted for a stronger opener, like…
“Is This It”, would have been my pick to open the album. Great production assistance will always help a band learn the basic steps. “Catch them early and never let them wonder”. After some soft acoustic guitar and dreamy soft electric guitar, Meessen’s powerful directive vocal, “Is this it? You did what you could, and you have what you wanted now. Is this it? You just go on, you just go on, because this is it. You wonder is this what you wanted to begin with? This is it. You just go on; you just go on!” Then, that wonderful dreamy electric guitar creating echoes in the background. A powerful statement and original music that comes at you full throttle. The instrumental that ensues around the middle of the song starts with quiet bass then those echoing Chameleon-like guitars. Perfectly, they add an interlude after the strong opening. Then, they let it rip!
With Meessen singing in the background, “I choose a simple, comfortable, and easy life. The more I have, the less I want. When things become heavy and things become hard”. Good poise, fluid Mideastern sounds that can be distinguished, because you are not flooding the soundscape with too much heavy clutter. Enough to satisfy the ear, and make the listener want more. Yes, this should have been the opener.
“Somebody Like You”, opens with guitar, bass and keys. Meessen sings as the soundscape reaches higher. Her voice still distinguishable, despite the power. So many female fronted bands do not get it. Don’t drown that beautiful and powerful voice in grinding loud electric guitar; let it be part of the grand menagerie! She is magnificent. And so is the music. Very uplifting track.
“The Geese”, opens with soft electric guitar chords and bells. Meessen sings softly as the power of the music builds behind her. Then, slam, powerful drums, bass, and theatrical keys. Meessen sings, “They fly over our house, led by their inner compass. Gathered in a v-form, braving turbulence and storm. Fleeing from the cold of the dawning they were born. Follow the wing stroke until the next takes over” The flight of the geese and the reasons they fly south to avoid the cold of winter. Igniting a bigger question of global warming and maybe more.
Meessen’s voice echoes, quietly, in a similar manner to the prayers at Mecca; on the opening of “Measure of Things”. Soft bass and electric guitar, combined with soft drums. A great break in the power action. But later, more power drums, bass and electric guitar combining for one of the best songs on the album. Meessen sings some of the best lyrics on the album, “No longer seek for wisdom, before your closed eyes it stands. Now open and listen the trees whisper. Paradise on quicksand. Thoughts are outdated and outlived. Moral’s no longer man-made. No more we speak of true feelings. The mind a soulless landscape ”, while soft drums, bass and electric guitar accompany her. One of the album’s best songs. The music after she stops singing is also perfect.
“Dystopia”, is the album’s best track by far, and another challenger that could have been an awesome, album opener. It is also one of my favorite songs of the year. The album opens with George Orwell, from the BBC’s archives, narrating his famous manifesto, set to those wonderful arching and whining electric guitars we remember from so many Pink Floyd albums of our past. They complete the scene with wonderful organ keys, almost, snatched from Dark Side of the Moon. Orwell’s oration sets up the scenery for the music well. He says, “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face. The moral to be drawn from this dangerous nightmare situation, is a simple one. Don’t let it happen. It depends on you!” Those wonderful Dark Side keys and moaning electric guitars fill the soundscape, to produce one of the best brooding revelation songs of the year. Sit back and enjoy the soundscape as it grinds and builds.
“It’s Never Quiet”, opens…well quietly, with soft drums and electric guitar highlighted with soft bass. But, watch out, the beat volume increases and so with it the guitars and keys. Meessen sings, “My ears in the water. Only hearing the sound of me breathing in and out, and the rhythm of my beating heart”, as flutes and wonderful atmospherics accompany her. Later Messan sings, “I hear the question, what should it be? It’s never calm until the day that we feel. our place in this matter, what should it be? It is with hands, and minds and hearts we achieve. It’s never quiet, the machines will never sleep. It’s never calm in our heads, it’s never quiet”. Another of the best tracks on this album. The second side of this album, is stronger than the first.
“MXI”, is a short, 2-minute opus full of original keys, soft electric guitars and bass. The soft percussion is welcomed, and makes you regret the song’s ending.
Meessen’s voice boldly opens “Two Faces”. A 7:41 minute closer full of mosaics of what the band has left to add. Deep bass, original electric guitar and perfect rhythm drums help capture Meessen’s vocal twists. She sings, “While chasing juvenility with my peers. If I only knew I should have been there with you”. Another fantastic song off this album. The band lets go of all inhibitions and creates some incredibly powerful music at the closing. Yes, I’ll be back for more.
Mosaic was released by Glass Ville Records.
This is an excellent album and find for a band. I have been in search of a powerful female-fronted progressive metal band. I definitely want to go back and listen to the rest of their discography, in time. You can sense much of the Pineapple Thief influence, and maybe Muse, but I hear more Pink Floyd than any others.
This is my favorite new female fronted band for now. Another great find, like Morbius and Nimesis. Get this CD and give it a full listen. You will not be disappointed.
Track List
- Mosaic – 4:31
- Is This It – 5:31
- Somebody Like You – 3:58
- The Geese – 4:00
- Measure of Things – 5:40
- Dystopia – 6:46
- It’s Never Quiet – 4:52
- MXI – 2:00
- Two Faces – 7:41
https://lesoirmusic.bandcamp.com/album/mosaic