Edenya - The Secret Destination You Are Looking For
PV004
Edenya are a relatively newly formed 5 Piece band from France. This is their third album coming after Silence from 2020 and Another place from 2023 and earlier EP from 2017, This is the first music of theirs that I have had the pleasure of hearing, in short, this collection of 10 tracks range from the short 3 plus minutes songs of which there are 6 and 4 longer tracks, Ranging from just shy of 6 minutes to two tracks of 9:30 and 10:08 respectively.
Another interesting fact is that the band employs a drummer who uses a Djembe (A west African hand drum) played with the palms of the hands this gives the music an element of World music at times which certainly is a different approach to rhythm.
The songs themselves are very good, 2 of them are instrumentals which are interesting in tone, the band are fronted by Ingrid Denis who provides the lead and backing vocals, Marco provides guitars, keyboards, piano and programming, Juliette Carradec provides violin and Jean Paul Cartigny delivers the bass, with Sylvie Sj bringing drums and Djembe to the group.
This diverse collective together offer a very assured sound that ranges from Rock to folk and Progressive to Ambient music and keyboards. All in all a heady mix of sounds and textures is heard across the album.
The album begins with Back From The Endless Seas, which opens with an acoustic guitar figure and vocals from Ingrid, A violin part from Juliette and then some drum parts from Sylvie Sj, there is also some piano from Marco as the songs grows exponentially, in both power, sound and scope. It is a very fine opening track that shows both diversity and complexity of the band and overall it hits the mark.
This is swiftly followed by The Outing which has a fine running bass motif that snakes across the song aided by the piano of Marco, at just before the 2 minute mark the drums kick in fully and drive the track forward in a very urgent manner,. This is another fine track burst of guitar from Marco adds to the sound, a violin part occurs at the 3:40 mark and really elevates the track significantly, this is very impressive sounding.
Little Girl is next, opening once more with a gentle acoustic guitar, After this opening salvo keyboards and piano are heard along with violin,
The vocals in this song are strong and clear the sound has a good melody that stays with you, another winner here.
Foreign Ground is next opening with ethnic sounds, Middle Eastern with keyboards and latterly a strong bass line, this is a wonderful song very evocative of a visit to a different land and culture, definitely the best so far. Fiery guitar solo from Marco precedes the final chorus of the song, and more ethnic sounds and almost wailing to represent the different culture being experienced, it’s a great track, really special indeed.
The Secret Destination That You Are Looking For is next, The album’s title track and an instrumental to boot, Once again this has its ethnicities on clear display, and sound great with the vocals and the Djembe drums alongside the violin playing mournful melody. This song reminds me of the equally diverse Wood Demons who plough a similar furrow at times.
That this reminds me of them is fine with me as they are another wonderful group making intelligent Progressive Rock. Edenya are in good company here in this track, it is simply amazing, a great listen, I love everything about it, the Djembe, the bass, the violin and the free spiralling guitar lines and the wordless vocals taken together this is a masterful piece of music. Simply fantastic.
After this comes the shorter Flying Dream, which begins with a pizzicato plucked violin part backed with acoustic guitar and great vocals from Ingrid, this is a great little track with lots of atmosphere and strong textures.
2 shorter songs, Princess Of The Light and Like A Falling Leaf follow both are evocative numbers and with much to commend them they are both softer in nature and tone but with excellent musicianship, Both sounding very fine indeed, but overshadowed by the title track.
Penultimate track is the albums longest My Burden (10:08) this begins with a strummed acoustic guitar park and a prominent bassline, Great vocals from Ingrid again lift this song upwards, the song is about waiting for a loved one to make a decision, there is a very fine guitar solo from Marco that emerges from the sound gaining in intensity and power for several minutes before drawing back and allowing the acoustic guitar to re emerge again, The song has a lot of power to it, great dynamics during which there is a lot happening throughout its longer running time. The lyrics reference the pandemic, towards the end hinting that this song is about that time of uncertainty and confusion. Again this is another strong song from Edenya, The album concludes with the shorter track Lady which is about the miracle of pregnancy, expectations and new life and change, it is a very poignant and heartfelt song.
The album is definitely a grower and needs you to live with it and allow its beauty and wonderment show through, when it does you will know how great this album truly is.
I can’t recommend this highly enough it’s a fabulous album and a fine collection of songs,
For me the standout tracks are Foreign Land, The Secret Destination You Are Looking For and My Burden and Lady.
Info here : The Secret Destination You Are Looking For | Edenya