Belgium – The Green Violinist start their debut album 'More Thrill & Never Ending Blessings' dreamy, playfully, enchanting... From there, the music proceeds quietly flowing and full of wonderful harmonies. The songs will catch your attention. Vincent Defresne, leader and songwriter of the band, admits he was inspired by the painting by famous artist Marc Chagall 'The Green Violinist'. He managed to capture the spirit of the picture in an incredible way and to transfer it into music. The result is a wonderful collection of Neoprog-songs containing its fair share of acoustic moments (guitar, piano and violins). But the range goes further including electronic, almost trance-like songs that take you into another world.
In the beginning...
Back in 2003, Vincent Defresne, after weeks of despair and personal depression, finds himself being at a dead end... The question he asks, "How do I transform life from a moment of 'reaction' to a glorious moment of 'creation'?" Sitting perfectly alone, profoundly submerged into his thoughts, Vincent was suddenly surrounded by a huge feeling of being "perfectly present" during the wonderful Silver Mount Zion's "13 Angels Standing Guard 'Round The Side Of Your Bed" was playing – mystical! It was then that the portrait of Marc Chagall's Green Violinist bought a few days before at Guggenheim's Museum at Bilbao began to wake up – he saw him really come to life! The combination of one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written mixed with that great canvas and exhaustion caused by stress and sadness truly CREATED a moment of pure delight...an intense feeling of being ALIVE!
That was the day Vincent decided to call his new musical project "The Green Violinist".
A few years have passed and the situation has changed... "Sioban" (his former band) stopped giving him joy anymore and the feeling of being understood and supported by his old musical friends started disappearing little by little. The Sioban family no longer stood by each other... the end of a dream. "This is the right time to come back to that tremendously good intuition felt many years ago," Vincent thought... and he gave physical birth to The Green Violinist.
With now the freedom to be himself and with a few songs taken from a Sioban demo, Vincent began to work... Quickly followed former Sioban bassist and sound magician Regis Planque and his alter ego, drummer and rhythmic wizard Gabriel Peeters. The triumvirate was also helped by accordionist Emilie Laclais (backing vocals), Raphael Bresler and the amazing Mathieu Vandermolen (electric guitars).
Vincent boasts a wide array of musical influences that include Barclay James Harvest, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Marillion, Nick Drake, Paul Simon and Alphaville to name a few. Songs were put together during several months, and the concept behind 'More Thrill & Never Ending Blessings' increased week after week to end with an album which bears the will to give the right to speak to those who are never allowed to get a word in edgewise... The weak ones, the scapegoats, the shy people, the gentle ones, the mourning people, the maladjusted ones, the society's rejects, the desperate lovers... Every song is a hymn to those pariahs and are dedicated to us all – Receive and Transmit.
Vincent discusses the concept behind 'More Thrill & Never Ending Blessings', "It's a Call...a spiritual call made to transform thoughts into words, in order to transform words into actions... It's a Call for 'More Thrill' in our lives, to increase our feelings of BEING ALIVE and turn every second into a never ending blessing. The inspiration came as a Healer...to tell about my longing, all those words left unsaid, trapped into my body and soul...the way for me to escape illness and disease by letting it all out. I wanted to make an album that could be a beacon of Hope for all those who didn't feel they truly belong to this violent world – the shy, the weak and the sweet ones... Through music I want the damaged ones to know they're never alone."
The songs were mainly recorded at Jedinakow Studios, the band's own private place of creation and Island of Serenity. Tracks were engineered, mixed and mastered by Vincent's longtime friend and bass player Regis Planque. Also, the album came to realization through the collaboration of a huge bunch of gifted musicians, including a real choir of 50 singers directed by Maestro Patrick Jonnieaux.
Says Vincent, "We're just finishing the recording of our second album, which I am very proud of. I love the process leading to the birth of new songs, the way how almost magically the songs are given to you, how they come and how the ideas to improve them come too. The next album should be a great success for me, and I'm not talking about sales or critical acclaim...I mean artistically I succeed to create the soundtrack I wanted for a world that has changed...Critical mass is reached now, nothing can stop the new world to be revealed and I wrote music about it, to help its birth."
In closing Vincent has this to impart to his fans and listeners, "Be yourself, Trust yourself, Don't be afraid for You are never alone. Listen to the voice within anytime you feel lost, tear down the disguises and see beyond the illusion...forget everything you were told, about anything. Throw away your TV forever, make your own opinions, you are wiser than you think...actually you are wisdom itself. So love yourself First...You were only sleeping all those years... So Wake-up Now!"
GR034 / GLR111CD The Green Violinist - More Thrill & Never Ending Blessing: January 28, 2013
The Green Violinist – 'More Thrill & Never Ending Blessings' CD can be purchased at: http://cdshop.galileo-records.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=81
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