Phideaux
The Great Leap
CD. 2006. Art, Prog, Rock.

In 2006, Xavier Phideaux released The Great Leap, the first album in a trilogy on the subject of authoritarian surveillance states and ecological crises. With The Great Leap, Phideaux returns to simpler song structures. For Phideaux, that means "simpler". The album has also become much rockier. And it's still wonderfully melodic, entertaining and snappy. Sounds like a conclusion again, doesn't it?

As always, there is a colorful booklet included. Here, too, you can see all the pages later. I have no complaints about the production. The sound is typically clean for CDs. As always with Phideaux.

“Wake Up”, a guitar is plugged in and we are woken up by a rock tune. It starts off well. “You and me against a World of Pain” continues like anthem. A wonderfully open song. Wonderfully flowing lyrics. Progressive. “The Waiting” doesn’t just have rock in it either. There are little gimmicks here too, like in almost every song. “Abducted” takes us into a gloomy song, into a dark world. Particularly appeals to the “sociologist” in me. Song 5, “Rainboy”, isn’t any happier, but it does have more progressive edges at 6:05 minutes. “Get out of the Rain Boy, the water is rising, you might washed away.” Greetings to the last generation. “I was Thinking” is wonderfully spherical and folky. A love story? Or surveillance? Quiet beginning, climax in the middle and quiet again at the end. Entertaining, well thought out, good. “Long and Loneley Way” gets rockier from a little more than the middle. We also hear an electric sitar here. In general, the group around Phideaux uses all kinds of instruments, e.g. violin, cello and trumpet. The lyrics and the way they are sung, one of Xavier's strengths, comes across well here. “They hunt you down” is dirtier, rockier and darker. “Behind the old and creaking wooden door, they hunt you down”. Sounds like 1984. An intense song. “Tannis Root” starts off beautifully, with guitar and slow drums. Here too, an energy flows that is tangible. There is also a lot of energy in “One Star”. The rockiest song. Distorted voice. I just can't decide which one isn't one of my highlights. Because the brilliant ballad “Last” is also one of my highlights. The lyrics are good again. Everything flows into one another.

Conclusion. I'll list them all. Glam. Prog. Art. Rock. Wave. Folk. Well thought out lyrics and music throughout. Exceptionally good musicians. Words and music flow into one another. If that isn't prog too, then I should readjust my antennas. Not classic prog, of course. If you like intelligent music, you should definitely listen to this.

Phideaux Xavier – Vocals, Electric Sitar, Rhodes, Harp, Bass
Gabriel Moffat – Electric Guitar
Rich Hutchins – Drums, Percussion
Linda Ruttan-Moldawsky – Vocals
Ariel Färber – Vocals, Violin
Valerie Gracious – Vocals
Molly Ruttan – Vocals
Stefanie Fife – Cello
Jo Pusateri – Snare Drum
Scott Brannon – Hammer Dulcimer
Hiker Frostbelt – Flute, Zurna, Recorder
Probyn Gregory – Theremin, Trumpet, div. Horns, Trombone
Arlan Schierbaum – Hammond Organ, Piano, Clavinet, Wurlitzer, Synthesizer, Minnimoog

The trilogy consists of three albums, each getting its own review.

The Great Leap. 2006
Doomsday Afternoon. 2007
Infernal. 2018

The photos are all from my CD. The rights to all motifs, logos, texts and fonts that can be seen in the photos are of course owned by the copyright holder.