Grandval: With alternately varied touches and atmospheres, atmospheric.

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Grandval is an indie France art music project combining pop, AOR, psychedelic, prog, post-rock and other elements.

Grandval is Henri Vaugrand who started as a bass player at the age of 14. The music of his album A Ciel Ouvert goes back 20 years ago, but it is only 5 years ago that he decided to work again on the project to polish the demos into a proper release. Originally the songs were sung in English, but Henri thought that the French language was more appropriate to suit his music.

The influences come from bands such as Ange, Mona Lisa and Pink Floyd.To finish his album, Henri has worked with Steph Honde (Hollywood Monster), J-P. Louveton and Colin Tench (Corvus Stone).

Eau Feu (Water Fire) is the third album two years after Descendu Sur Terre. In general the music by Grandval is hard to pigeonhole, it sounds like an adventurous progressive blend of several styles. Most of the compositions alternate between dreamy, bombastic eruptions, and dynamic accelerations.

This is topped with a tasteful coloring by the keyboards (from flashy synthesizer flights and sumptuous Mellotron choir sound to tender piano and soaring strings) and guitar (often harder-edged with blistering and biting soli, but also some acoustic guitar). The undertone in the tracks is often a bit melancholy or ominous, due to the subject of this album.

Grandval’s music speaks of nature (the real and the human, too human …), of animals (wolves in particular), of war, of madness, of love, of the difficulty of living and of think about this world, in a poetic and colorful language, with alternately varied touches and atmospheres, atmospheric, incisive or aerial.

Grandval is based in Auvergne.

Tracklist:

1. Ferimur (1:40)

2. Les jours innocents (5:18)

3. Il Neige Encore (5:34)

4. Heinrich (un monde bien étrange) (9:55)

5. Erables et chênes (8:31)

6. Aqua et igni (7:42)

7. Fin de partie (6:35)

Line-up:

Olivier Bonneau : keyboards, vocal harmonies

Henri Vaugrand : vocals, bass, guitars, programming, e-bow, vocal harmonies

   With

Jean-Pierre Louveton (Nemo, Wolfspring): guitars, vocal harmonies

Jean-Baptiste Itier (Nemo, JPL): drums

Élodie Saugues : vocal harmonies

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