Instrumental albums with this sort of diversity aren’t written and recorded with ideas of scoring big time in fame’s great lottery. They are, instead, planned, written, and recorded as labors of love. For artistic and communal, if they find an audience, value alone. Meteorange’s Bubble 1 is the first in a planned series of releases, but such conceptual ambitions are typically ballyhooed rather than what we hear with Pierre De Gagne’s project.
The Canadian composer, educator, multi-instrumentalist and producer began the project several years (and albums) ago as Dragon-Off and, driven by largely the same aesthetic governing Meteorange’s music, released three studio albums under that banner. He later discovered, much to his dismay, that the project’s name also referred to a variation on the AK-47 machine gun. Changing the project’s name hasn’t changed its artistic direction.
Bubble 1 is a remarkably orchestrated collection of musical styles, unafraid to move from traditional instruments into their modern counterparts in an eyeblink, and never comes across as any sort of mishmash. Its conceptual nature is clear. Meteorange opens the album with “Tribal Sunrise” and it spellbinds with little more than the sounds of a wilderness, perhaps, coming to life with the dawning of the day.
It transitions without a stumble into the classical eloquence of “Morning Bird”. Violinist Francois Boucher makes their impact felt on this performance from almost the outset and the sensitivity of their melodic interpretation remains the recording’s highlight. Producer Bob Houle deserves considerable plaudits, as well, for the recording. Meteorange has a more all-encompassing musical range than 2-3 bands put together, but Houle gives them an outstanding sonic presentation throughout the album.
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“Cosmic Folk” demonstrates a keen understanding of dynamics. It’s his classical influences strengthening other aspects of his songwriting – the folk tradition he so ably invokes makes use of dynamics in its music that are every bit as grounded in classical aesthetics. The middle of the composition introduces the human voice for the first time on this release and sweeps listeners away with ethereal grandeur.
His reliance on guitar during the album’s second half isn’t a problem. Musical lyricism leaves virtually every moment of “Breakfast at Noon” aglow with an inner light that should elevate the listener’s mood. Vulnerability is audible throughout this performance and Bubble 1, as a whole, radiates genuine warmth and a wide-open heart. There are several smaller movements in the piece and one of the best is the seventeen second “Shorty Blues”. De Gagne plays a bit of outstanding acoustic blues, melodic but never fancy, but even this brief piece provides a musically satisfying shift in gears.
It’s actually rather astonishing to take full stock of the diversity driving this release. Meteorange doesn’t settle on a single line of “attack”; Bubble 1 comes at listeners from a variety of angles and, invariably, delivers the goods. A quarter century of teaching hasn’t dulled Pierre De Gagne’s creative edge and Bubble 1 reveals a musical artist who’s working at or near the peak of their considerable powers.
Chadwick Easton