On this latest album, the strangely titled ‘The Fish Who Wanted To Be King’, it became Lalu’s follow up to the acclaimed 2022 effort ‘Paint The Sky’.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Lalu
ALBUM: The Fish Who Wanted To Be King
LABEL: Frontiers SRL
SERIAL: FRCD 1362
YEAR: 2023
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: France
LINEUP: Vivien Lalu – keyboards * Damian Wilson – vocals * Joop Walters – guitars, bass * Jelly Cardarelli – drums * Matt Daniel – keyboards,Hammond organ, piano
TRACK LISTING: 01 Forever Digital * 02 The Fish Who Wanted To Be King * 03 Deoxyribonucleic Acid * 04 Is That A London Number * 05 Amnesia 1916 * 06 A Reversal Of Fortune * The Wondering Kind
RATING: 85/100
Lalu Background
French keyboardist Vivien Lalu is well known in prog circles. His band Lalu though popular in recent years is not a new project. Lalu the band can trace its origins back to 2005 when signed to Lion Music. Vivien and musical partner/guitarist Joop Walters have appeared together on numerous projects, the most recent of which was the Fates Warning offshoot band of Ray Alder and Mark Zonder called A-Z which we reviewed in 2022.
On this latest album, the strangely titled ‘The Fish Who Wanted To Be King’, it became Lalu’s follow up to the acclaimed 2022 effort ‘Paint The Sky’. Added to the impressive lineup is Threshold singer Damian Wilson and French symphonic metallers Adagio drum master Jelly Cardarelli. The plaudits have been flowing early on from prog pundits, though you really have to take the overblown write-ups with a grain of salt, as you do with most prog websites.
The Songs
The album is based on a concept around the first World War era of the Dada movement, a collective of mostly European artists who rejected the modern capitalist movement of the time. Dada was prevalent from about 1916 through to the mid 1920’s. It’s not quite clear to me how the songs interweave the concept, that’s a story best told on a prog site.
‘Forever Digital’ touches on modern elements of our world (think digital, blockchains etc). It does wander slightly, as does the whole album actually, never settling into a routine.
There are two lengthy tracks, the first is the near 11 minute title track ‘The Fish Who Wanted To Be King’. I’m thinking this might be an artistic riposte of the Dada moment toward the overarching capitalist society post WW1. Again, it moves all over the musical landscape.
Damian Wilson’s vocals dominate ‘Deoxyribonucleic Acid’, though the overall arrangement is less bombastic. Commercial even.
Some nifty keyboard/phone effects introduce ‘Is That A London Number’. The lyric ring ring, you’ll find me in the phonebook is a clever line, though I’m thinking this tune might be a standalone from the overall album concept. Probably my favorite song so far.
‘Amnesia 1916″ is the longest track here at 14 minutes. It’s a definite tie-in to the Dada concept given the year reference. The keyboard work is quite lush on this one, though the song shifts tempo more than once.
‘A Reversal Of Fortune’ is a reasonably short instrumental at 4 and a half minutes. The arrangement plays into a jazz fusion style, much like what Toto used to do.
‘The Wondering Kind’ is a contrasting track, powerful and then again lilting, light versus dark, ebb then flow. Wilson’s voice again comes into focus, so too the dynamic instrumentation from the supporting cast.
In Summary
Prog of this quality is not usually the domain of Frontiers. You’d expect to see this on a label such as Inside Out Music, though ‘Painted Sky’ also saw a release from the Italian label. If you dig deep you’ll see Vivien Lalu and Joop Walters appearing on numerous projects over the years, ranging from melodic rock, to prog and heavy metal.
The connection to the Dada movement as a concept for this album has disappointingly not been covered by other prog related sites. I think this is important to recognize as Damian Wilson pointed out in their pre-release press kit. Sometimes you get it, often times you don’t. Overall, a solid album, now it’s time to listen to Lalu’s earlier work.
Lalu on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
