Frant1c - A Brand New World - 2024
“... A project initiated by Anne-Claire Rallo (Nine Skies) ...”
intro
'A Brand New World' is the debut album of the project Frant1c. A project initiated by Anne-Claire Rallo (Nine Skies). Frant1c is her solo endeavour running alongside the progressive band Nine Skies, and was brought to life following the loss of Eric Bouillette (Nine Skies, The Room). When I read the enclosed info sheet, I noticed, besides the well-known musicians of the band Nine Skies, two other names; Martin Wilson (The Room, Grey Lady Down) as one of the vocalists and John Mitchell, who is overseeing the mixing and mastering of this fine solo endeavour of Anne-Clair Rallo.
"The story of 'A Brand New World' talks about Charlie and Hope, who have always spent their lives together. One fine day, Charlie wakes up alone in the middle of a completely different and devastated world. He then goes in search of his soul mate, pondering: 'What is this world?' The discoveries and new encounters he makes throughout his adventure to find Hope invite us to reflect on various feelings and questions that are as universal as they are personal to each of us."
line-up
Anne-Claire Rallo - guitars, keyboards, piano, arrangements; Alexandre Lamia - guitars, keyboards, piano, arrangements; Eric Bouillette (RIP) - guitars, violin, piano, backing vocals; Martin Wilson - vocals (Charlie) Helen Tiron - vocals (Hope); Andy Rowe - spoken voice; Alexis Bietti - bass; Johnny Marter - Drums
Guests: Laurent Benhamou - saxophone on 'Where Have You Been'; Steve Anderson - guitar solo on 'On The Run'; Guy Marro - choruses on 'Come Back To Earth'
review
You will find ten tracks on this concept album. The album opens with a prologue which has been given the title 'The Awakening' (4:10). Musically it opens atmospherically and fairytale-like with beautiful keyboard sounds while a male voice recites the following lines; ''The strength of a person's spirit would then be measured by how much 'truth' he could tolerate, or more precisely, to what extend he needs to have it diluted, disguised, sweetened, muted, falsified.'' After which a female voice recites the line "Wake Up" twice. This is followed by a beautiful classical piano theme. The classical atmosphere is further enhanced by the use of the sound (keyboard) of a cello. The narrative elements in the form of a male and female voice, make you curious to follow the story. A beautiful and atmospheric opening of the album. 'Come Back To Earth' (4:19) has a calm build-up and is passionately sung by Martin Wilson while guest Guy Marro is responsible for the chorusses. The vocals are on top of the mix and underneath are atmospheric keyboard work, great drumming and a heavy alternative rock guitar part. At the end there is a nice melodic synth part. In the next track 'People In Their Cages' (5:00) the narrative elements are in the form of radio messages. Musically speaking there are some metal influences through the aggressive guitar and drum parts. The next track 'Where have You Been' (5:13) is more interesting to me personally. The song is calmer in terms of structure and more importantly, you will find beautiful melodies here. Both in the vocal lines and the musical support with guitar and the saxophone of guest Laurent Benhamou. Then it is time for the longest track of the album. 'The Ballad Of Peggy Pratt" (13:29) opens with a delicate piano but soon those aggressive guitar riffs follow. Fortunately there is enough variation in tempo changes and also in the guitar parts. And there is excellent drum work by Johnny Marter. The contrast is great between the delicate piano parts and the heavy guitar riffs. Personally I can enjoy the quiet parts with the beautiful melodic guitar parts and the convincing vocals. But with those heavy guitar riffs I drop out a bit. The last part with a beautiful melodic guitar solo is very beautiful and the intensity of the music slowly goes to a climax. A highlight of this album. The quiet 'Sweet Confusion' (6:49) is very beautiful because of the combination of the male voice (Martin Wilson) and the female voice (Helen Tiron), who play the roles of Charlie and Hope from the storyline, and the melodic guitar work. All this on top of a non-dominant keyboard orchestration. The very quiet instrumental parts have a more classical atmosphere. The melodic guitar part in this track is wonderful. In the song 'On The Run' (6:41) the guitar solo is played by guest Steve Anderson. The song has a nice build-up. After a quiet opening the tempo increases when the convincing Martin Wilson presents his passionate vocals again. In between there is another change of tempo with a transition to beautiful and delicate piano playing. The next song 'Take A Little Time' (The Encounter) (4:48) is a quiet ballad with, just like in 'Sweet Confusion', a vocal duet of the characters Charlie and Hope. Helen Tiron who plays the role of Hope has a beautiful and sometimes angelic voice. This gives a nice contrast with the passionate singing of Martin Wilson who plays the role of Charlie. This song is a resting point on this album. In 'A New Path' (6:43) it is uptempo again and the aggressive and heavy prog-metal influences return a bit. But after a driving prog-metal section with heavy guitar riffs there is suddenly an abrupt transition to a section with a fairytale atmosphere with acoustic guitar and delicate keyboard work. The album is concluded with an epilogue 'A Brand New World' (4:38) which musically corresponds to the prologue 'The Awakening'. At the end you hear Andy Rowe again who provides the spoken voice. ''The strength of a person's spirit would then be measured by how much 'truth' he could tolerate, or more precisely, to what extend he needs to have it diluted, disguised, sweetened, muted, falsified.''
conclusion
'A Brand new World' the debut album of the Anne-Claire Rallo project Frant1c is an interesting and good sounding album that has the much needed variation. Besides the few heavy guitar riffs you mainly hear beautiful melodic guitar work. The keyboard and piano parts are well taken care of and have their delicate moments. Both lead vocalists convince. The contrast between the passionate singing of Martin Wilson (who I still know from the albums of Grey Lady Down, and who provides most of the vocals on this album) and the delicate singing of singer Helen Tiron works very well. Narrative elements also often work very well on a concept album. The beautiful drumming of Johnny Marter should also not go unmentioned. All in all a convincing debut album of the project Frant1c of Anne-Claire Rallo who together with Alexandre Lamia are responsible for the guitars, keyboards, piano and arrangements. The enclosed information sheet states that Frant1c is already working on a follow-up album.