Seven Reizh – “When Words Fly Away” | Progressive Rock Central.com

Seven Reizh, is a French progressive rock band; who have released their latest album, When Words Fly Away, in April 2023. This is the band’s fifth album; and they describe it as: “A re-creation, based on certain pieces from the last two albums La Barque Ailée and L’albatros. It puts an end to the quadrilogy begun in 2001 with Strinkadenn’ys. This album is a new creation in itself, it takes us elsewhere, it’s another journey”.

A journey is a simplified description to what I would call a global symphony of expression! This is a magnificent album which will be very high on my list of favorites, this year. It gathers musicians and vocalists from around the world to collaborate on music that will lift your spirits, calm your nerves, and make you believe again that quality music is available throughout the world. It has not left us!

12 new musicians are added to the twenty already present on the original albums. There are all new instruments never used by Seven Reizh before. They include the nyckelharpa, a Norwegian instrument; the Guzheng, a traditional Chinese instrument; the Ney, a Turkish instrument; the Chinese bamboo flute, and the handpans.

The project is mostly instrumental, but does feature many new voices: A Turkish singer: Pelin Başar; a Vietnamese singer: Huong Thanh; a French voice: Nadia Simone; a German singer: Stefanie Théobald; and a Franco-Russian countertenor: Alexis Vassiliev.

There is something here for everyone. From Scottish bagpipes to flamenco guitar; from Chinese bamboo flute to Turkish Ney.

This is a vast expanse of an album which is definitely rich in culture and the sounds of the world and at times the Earth. Water, birdsong and other elements are richly intermingled throughout the album. And the wonderful thing about it is that they are co-mingled together. One minute you may here Chinese bamboo flutes, the next bagpipes, and after that beautiful flamenco guitar intermingled with drums keyboards, electric guitars and background effects and orchestration. At times you feel and hear, very soft peaceful moments, then, the music changes to powerful and moving cinematic soundscapes. In others words…Never a dull moment!

Completely engaging music that does not let you get too comfortable. It keeps you on your toes listening and as Jimi Hendrix, so appropriately said, ‘experiencing’ the music.

I was actively engaged in this music from beginning to end. If you think peacefully of the title, maybe Claude Mignon and the band are saying, this is a wonderful world that we are just letting ‘fly’ away, to be destroyed by the action of our words and deeds. We must understand all the culture and history we are carelessly throwing on a pyre, without truly considering what we have accomplished and worked together to add to the story of Earth. Or, maybe they just wanted to bring together musicians from around the world; so that all of us could hear the wonderful sounds we, (our cultures), make together simultaneously. Either way, this is an album I wish everyone could here. It is as profound as it is beautiful in sound. The cinematic soundscapes should drive us all to work together for the good of all!

They describe When Words Fly Away as, “It thus becomes the epilogue of a long adventure that began 24 years ago. It is an end at the same time as it is a beginning. symbolically, the first piece is called antre, one hour and thirty minutes of music for this album”. An hour and a half to listen and contemplate how well our cultures can work together when we lower the importance of politics and territorial disputes, to the value of world culture. No one here is saying we need one world; thinking and doing the same thing every day. No, on the contrary, our differences bring much more variety, as is witnessed in the sounds we hear on the album. Just respect and appreciate the contributions we all make to the culture of the world.

Their press release states, “Seven Reizh is first and foremost the story of a friendship, a complicity, and a duality between Claude Mignon (composer and instrumentalist) and Gérard Le Dortz (novelist and graphic designer). Both have been friends since childhood and are passionate about music and literature in all their forms”. The two are big fans of Pink Floyd but also of Peter Gabriel, Alan Stivell and composers like Philip Glass, Samuel Barber, Debussy, and even Arvo Part. They both held on to a dream: to write and compose a “world rock opera” sung in Breton, highlighting their roots. Mission Accomplished!

The musicians that have created this wonderful album include: Claude Mignon: Compositions/arrangements, electric and acoustic guitars, piano, synths, lap steel; Marcel Aubé: Erhu; Pelin Başar: Ney, Turkish voice; Éléonore Billy as Nyckelharpa; Loïc Bléjan: Uilleann pipes; Cyrille Bonneau as Duduk; Olivier Carole: on bass; Sébastien Charlier, on harmonica; Shan Charriau, on bamboo flutes; Mathilde Chevrel, on cello; Jonathan Dour, on violin; Philippe Durand, on French horn; Rosendo Gomez, on Flamenco guitar; Ronan Hilaireau, on piano; Michel Hoffman, on oboe; Régis Huiban, on accordion; Vincent Lecomte, on bass and trumpet; Bernard Le Dréau, on tenor saxophone and clarinet; Ewan Le Gallic, on Scottish bagpipe; Shane Lestideau, on violin; Gurvan Mével, on drums and percussion; Gwenaël Mével, on tin and low whistles and bombarb; Gwendal Mével, on transverse flute; François Pernel, on Celtic harp; Ying Rao, on Guzheng; Thierry Runarvot, on double bass; Olivier Salmon, on electric and acoustic guitars; Gilles Sasongko, on violin; Laurent Sureau, on handpans; Mihaï Trestian, on Cimbalum; Alexis Vassiliev, on Countertenor; and Xuân Vinh Phuoc, on Dàn Tranh.

Vocalists include: Nadia Simon, on French voice; Huong Thanh, on Vietnamese voice; Stefanie Theobald, on voice; Equal voice choirs “Stimmung” and “Solfanelli” from the Brest Conservatory, directed by Cécile Le Métayer . Kabyle singing, Bleunwenn Mével; and Breton singing, Gurvan Mével.

Xavier Aubert was the sound engineer for When Words Fly Away. The album exists in trifold vinyl and double cd (25 x 26 cm) with a luxurious 24-page booklet composed of photos and original paintings made for this project. You will also find it in high definition audio (24 x 96 khz) on Bandcamp. All of this album was engineered and mixed at Peter Gabriel’s ‘Real World Studios’.

How could anyone in their right mind not recommend a ‘World Rock Opera” like this? I highly recommend this for all students of the world. And that means all of us. We should all spare an hour and a half of our lives to listen to how we all sound, working culturally in unison, to create a better world and to raise our cultural standards higher. This is a life-changing album. Run to the store as quickly as you can to pick this up. I wish I had heard this when it came out, at the height of Spring. With the Earth, coming to life again, in the Northern Hemisphere. Please, for your sake…DO NOT MISS When Words Fly Away!

Track List:

01. Antre – 1:38
02. Cheñch – 14:01
03. Kraozon – 9:32
04. Odisea – 6:06
05. The Middle Path – 10:15
06. Brems – 5:49
07. Herzel – 6:55

08. Headwinds – 6:30

09. Ne Ş eli – 8:01

10. Breathe – 5:48

11. Féng’s Shadow – 10:55

12. Klozañ – 2:40

Website and Social media Links:

https://www.seven-reizh.com/?author=0

https://www.facebook.com/sevenreizh/

https://seven-reizh.bandcamp.com/album/150907-live

https://www.facebook.com/claude.mignon.73/