SOUP: Remedies (PROGRESSIVE ROCK,Post Rock): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Three years ago, Soup has conquered the editorial staff of Music Waves, and its readers, with its excellent "The Beauty Of Our Youth". If the Norwegian band has had problems of line-up stability since the beginning, the stylistic coherence between the albums is nevertheless preserved by the unfailing presence of Erlend Viken, for whom Soup was originally the one-man project. This time, the staff of "Remedies" is pretty much the same as on the previous record, only the drummer being a newcomer.

For those who would have made the mistake of not yet having listened to this band's discography, let's remind that they have a characteristic style that allows us to recognize them for sure, a very rare quality nowadays. A mix of progressive, atmospheric and from now on post-rock (we will come back to this later), Soup has the gift to embroider melodies that catch you from the very first notes, with an unreal beauty that makes you shiver while rocking in a cocoon of sweet melancholy.

And "Remedies" is no exception to the rule. From the very first notes of 'Going Somewhere', the Norwegians take us into their dreamlike world with, it seems, three small things: a few discreet acoustic guitar chords, a melancholy vocal thread and a melody so limpid that we wonder why nobody had thought of it before. Another rare quality is the band's ability to play with nuances, often starting with a calm and stripped-down theme that rise in a slow crescendo to reach a climax with a saturated sound that surrounds the melody with a misty halo, the band's trademark. Then the intensity decreases and regains a confidential volume before starting again in a new crescendo.

This tendency to develop the same theme over long minutes is perhaps the novelty on "Remedies". Certainly these rises of intensity already existed on "Children of E.L.B." and "The Beauty Of Our Youth" but were expressed more quickly, the vocals being much more present. With the eight minutes of 'Going Somewhere', the eleven minutes of 'The Boy And The Snow' and the thirteen minutes of 'Sleepers', Soup takes the time to slowly unfold his sumptuous themes, creating melancholic and dreamy atmospheres, more nostalgic than sad, more mysterious than disturbing, in a technique close to that used by post-rock but avoiding the monotony that is often the corollary of this musical style.

There is no risk of getting bored here because, in addition to the beauty of the themes already emphasized many times, the subtlety of the arrangements with its incessant inputs and outputs of instruments and the perpetual work of enriching the melodies maintain the interest of the listener without difficulty. The often crystalline and fragile vocals, the shoegaze guitars, the ethereal keyboards, the sinuous lines of the bass (what a performance on 'Sleepers'!) and the furious rolls of a drum set that knows how to be respected when it is necessary but also how to remain discreet at the right moment constitute an ensemble that serves the compositions admirably well.

Finally, we will raise two regrets. What a pity to end such a beautiful album on a fade out for once badly inspired. The hymnic character of 'Nothing Like Home' deserved a better treatment. And why did such an exceptional band choose such an uncharismatic name! Very few things in truth compared to the marvellous universe that Soup invites you to discover, a serene and magical heroic fantasy landscape where it would not be surprising to meet some elves or the last unicorns. - Official website

SOUP

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PROGRESSIVE ROCK