Album Review - Papillon - Lazerus Heights

His voice hits you like a spoon of honey – he being Dick Grisdale, songwriter, vocalist and songwriter for Lazerus Heights,an Anglo French band from Dordogne. A great baritone voice, which brings on comparisons to Kevin Ayers, that very British chanteuse from Canterbury.

The overall thing I like about this album is that it feels like you have heard it before, it’s not

hard to get into. The arrangements , the melodies all sounding deliciously familiar, but

completely original which is how I like my music.

Besides Kevin Ayers, I detect some John Cale era Velvet Underground, and some sublime

Dave Gilmour type guitar work, with some very complimentary keyboard work from Paul

Mouradian.including some arabesque swirls reminiscent of Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti era.

The rhythm section is Simon Pearson on bass and Jeff Gautier on drums, which work

together like hand and glove. Yes this is band all working together for good of the song.

There is not a bad moment on this album, and the more I listen the more I hear. Overall

favourite tracks so far are Dry Martini, The Living Room and Lazerus Heights. Also popping up is a cover of the Jaques Brel song Next, which was also covered by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and of course Scott Walker, a massive Brel fan. Anyone wanting to spread the word of Jaques Brel is welcome at my house anyday.

I am so grateful that I was hipped to this band. As soon as the last track finishes I want to

hear it all again.Its special when you form a bond like that with an album, it doesn’t happen too many times in a lifetime.

The album is available on Bandcamp and on CD.