Living Being, the band led by French accordionist Vincent Peirani, had to wait a long time before they could release their new album. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, they had to abandon their plans for a third album. Instead, Living Being IV (Time Reflections) is now being released.

Reflection as a maxim can already be found in the names of some of the nine tracks on the latest album. Le Cabinet des Ènigmes, Physical Attraction, Better Days, Inner Pulse and Phantom Resonanz suggest a lot of thought and translation work. What was? What is? How can it be captured in sound?

Living Being's answer to this is: with feeling. The cover version of the Queen song Under Pressure could serve as an example and, in a way, as a guide to understanding. It is more fluid and gentler than the British band's hard rock staccato performance and opens up a different perspective on being under pressure.

Compact and full-bodied, the quintet consisting of Peirani, Émile Parisien on soprano saxophone, Julien Herné on bass, Tony Paeleman on keyboards and drummer Yoann Serraals presents itself as a cohesive formation and well-rehearsed team. Solid bass provides a foundation for the warm mids and fresh highs, and it is particularly pleasing that the soprano saxophone does not cut into the ears – a testament to excellent skill on both the reed and the console.

All this, combined with the flow of the music, the integrative depth, and the natural heartbeat of the performance, speaks for a mastery that does not impose itself, but wants to carry you away. And it does. Living Being plays an emotionally authentic album that is also acoustically convincing.

Merci beaucoup pour cet excellent album! (Thomas Semmler, HighResMac)

Vincent Peirani, accordion, accordina
Emile Parisien, soprano saxophone
Julien Herne, bass
Tony Paeleman, piano, keyboards, Fender Rhodes
Yoann Serra, drums

Recorded by Boris Darley at Studio des Bruères, France
Produced by Amélie Salembier & Vincent Peirani / Yes les Guy’zz
Mixed by Nic Hard Mastered by Dave McNair