Gliz - Mass

Let’s set off again in the 70’s?
It seems they haven’t revealed everything yet, and 50 years later they go on feeding nowadays rock production largely. For better.

It’s the case of this band. Strongly retro sounding, they can remind you of Queen ("Not the End"), of Led Zeppelin too ("The Hunt", "All is Fine", "Behind the Trees") (but not like these little clones of Greta Van Fleet). With a swing à la Puggy, a bit (it was more blatant in Cydalima, their 1st album).

But the identity of this excellent trio from Jura doesn’t stop here. For their uniqueness lies mainly in the choice of instruments: ever-present banjo, sometimes doubled, tuba replacing bass guitar, farfisa for the psychedelic touch, but still drums. Nothing else. (Except some extra brass at the end of "The Hunt".)
Bass player Thomas (or, to be precise, "tu-bass player"!) told me the name of the band, Gliz, came from Gliese, a list of exoplanets where life, even though different, might be conceivable. This also applies to this band: even though with different instruments, rock music might be conceivable. Oh so much!

Even if – let’s confess – style and sound aren’t downright modern, something catchy enough emerges to make me want to go back to it again and again, to know better these songs until I can identify them (although their title doesn’t help).
I think this jarring mix of déjà-vu and originality makes this music so attractive.

In particular, the banjo-voice parts are sublime (beginnings of "Not the End", "Illuminations" and "Shadow", whole of "All is Fine"), and I couldn’t keep quiet the surprising tribal single "Totem", which takes you to hunt the beast (the fur-bearing from the sleeve). Breathless and well-done.
Signed from signer Florent’s hand, the lyrics appeal to hear the people’s anger against the great and the good ("Mass") or aspire to a more natural life with no keys, no cards, no codes ("Illuminations").

Finally, you end up thinking you feel very good in this music.
How about staying in the 70s?