Fulguromatic self-titled album

Fulguromatic, self-titled debut album, 2025

Fulguromatic is a French duo composed of multi-instrumentalists Paul Cossé, who plays the Fender Rhodes, automatic transverse flute, transverse flute, piano, percussion, banjo, and vocals, and Lancelot Rio, who plays drums, automatic synth bass, xylophone, synth, bird calls, percussion, guitars, and vocals, active since 2022. 

Imagine yourself in the late 70s, you've already listened to albums by Caravan and Magma but also Soft Machine and something by RIO, and try to imagine, seen from that distant time, how progressive music might evolve in the future, in the far-off 2025: well, you've most likely imagined the sound of Fulguromatic.

Their sound is a fusion of jazz-rock, Canterbury scene sonorities, a touch of Zeuhl, and avant-garde sounds, characterized by the use of self-built instruments, such as the automatic flute, which gives them a unique timbral quality, and with a rhythm section that is nothing short of extraordinary and eclectic, but also unusual instruments, bird calls, percussion, and an extraordinarily virtuosic use of electric piano, flutes, and xylophone.

This is their self-titled debut album, on the border between Canterbury and jazz-rock, with rather marked Zeuhl reminiscences, but which in itself is an avant-garde work inspired by genres with over fifty years of history behind them, thus absolutely innovative in the progressive rock genre, something that bodes well for the future of the genre itself.

The album consists of 8 tracks for a total duration of about 43 minutes, four of which last between 6 and 8 minutes and 4 of which are shorter, with the shortest track being about 2 minutes long.

- The Sigh of a Whittled Grove opens the album, with its approximately 6 minutes, opening with beautiful flute and an engaging rhythm with slight dissonances that grows progressively with a driving rhythm very much in the Canterbury style and with post-processed vocals and beautiful choruses. The syncopated drum rhythm is beautiful and the bass is excellent in the driving central part, which soon gives way to a lighter section with flute virtuosity, and then to a jam based on electric piano and an extraordinary drum groove of great taste and technique. Great album opener.

- The Unconceivable Curse of Atahualpa is a track with an initial syncopated rhythm with an excellent drum and bass groove followed by electric piano phrases and a great flute. The rhythm is almost hypnotic and continuous, and on this the keyboards vary with virtuosity while off-stage voices intervene. Splendid xylophone solo followed by an equally beautiful flute solo for a finale that, on the same rhythm, becomes pressing and powerful with deep sounds and an epic atmosphere.

- Hidden Realm is an interlude of not even two minutes, which begins with a controlled chaos of sounds in a fragmented rhythm with drums and percussion and a syncopated electric piano with an engaging playful female vocal, flute incursions and a flute solo, and an industrial rhythm.

- Top 5 des citations d'Albert Einstein, a track of about 7 minutes and one of my TOP tracks, starts with a sound that seems almost from a dystopian future, with almost circus-like sounds, made of distorted sounds tracing a percussive melody with an intense but distant electric piano. After this intro, a beautiful driving rhythm starts with a continuous keyboard base and a beautiful deep male voice in French. The tempo is incessant with fast interludes, double male and female vocals in a beautiful chorus, credible and beautiful in style. Then a great deep drum solo begins on the toms alone to create discontinuity, and then the initial hypnotic rhythm resumes, creating a sense of urgency and palpable tension in a rhythm so intense that at times it is deliberately disturbing. Beautiful vocal interpretation. The sound has clear Zeuhl influences both in the music and in the tone of the singing, a post-modern Zeuhl and I couldn't imagine it differently after fifty years of the genre's history and the capabilities of modern instruments. After a more intense section, a lighter instrumental section follows on the same rhythm but with the drums fading slowly and only the electric piano remaining. The track closes with distorted sounds fading out. Exceptional piece that closes side A.

- Nutriscore Z, also a TOP Track of the album, condenses an entire world into just 6 minutes and 44 seconds, opening side B with drums, xylophone, and hypnotic electric piano together with male voices and unsettling choirs. The hypnosis continues and so do the dissonances, the Zeuhl style becomes more marked in its playfulness and the atmosphere is dense with absurdity. The melodic base and overall rhythm are beautiful, the voice takes on a decisive role with beautiful vocal harmonies over a stunning extended bass-drum jam in which the voice marks the rhythm and the rhythm section develops beneath it. The choral part returns and the rhythm becomes a sort of samba-prog (never heard anything like it) with a great series of complex breaks.

Great precision and taste in the scattered sounds at the end, distortions and fragmented drum grooves on the edge of avant-garde experimentation but still with a precise scheme and a melodic theme. Great extended section with magnificent drums that rise and increase in speed until establishing, on a very sustained rhythm, a gallop in great acceleration. Then on this tempo the electric piano enters with an excellent solo and its distorted and dissonant sounds. Then the elongated choruses on the Zeuhl and Canterbury style melody together. Magnificent track

- Lil' Appeau, with its approximately 4 minutes, starts with a very atmospheric electric piano and a slow and light organ, like the rhythm of the drums which, however, has a vibrant and deep kick. The atmosphere is that of 70s Canterbury but with great originality in the search for sounds, beautiful deep bass and virtuosity on flute and synth. The track grows overall with flute and strange industrial sounds, whistles, automatic flute, bird calls that almost seem like scratches from hypothetical DJs. The rhythm is engaging and the drums add incredible complexity. Beautiful track with a dystopian and exciting atmosphere together that fades and with the same sounds opens the next one. 

- An odd Bird's Bill adds light drum rolls to the sounds and when the bass and vocals enter in a Zeuhl mood it becomes a lovely Canterbury-style song, with a positive and exciting atmosphere. The drums take center stage again with a jazzy rhythm combined with superb virtuosity on the toms and delightful counter-times. The distorted whistles return in a brief interlude and then the track resumes with a stratospheric bass-drum groove and Canterbury-style flute. The melody rises in tone beat after beat and long rolls become breaks and at the same time excellent percussion intervenes, increasing the rhythmic jubilation, delightful breaks and variations on the theme follow one another until the end of the track. Fantastic

- Grmmf, with its duration of about eight minutes, closes the album, starting 

 immediately with splendid bass, drums, and very rhythmic piano with percussion and a great xylophone part. Beautiful engaging atmosphere interrupted by the splendid flute and a new xylophone interlude on a light continuous drum rhythm, then it resumes the initial theme. Beautiful flute and xylophone, excellent restarts and alternating descents in tone. The rhythm suddenly becomes essential and predominantly percussive, on which the xylophone draws virtuosity and the bass traces deep the only melody at that moment. Beautiful composition that accelerates into a gallop entering a brief Zeuhl break with long and unsettling choruses, playful voices tracing the melody with high-pitched choral vocalizations, suspended moments in this absurd atmosphere with drum and percussion sounds scattered over a light keyboard base, percussive sounds splendidly architected in their destructive and light fragmentary sequence and varying in density, volume, and intensity. A long splendid drum and percussion solo fading lightly into silence while three keyboard notes alternate slowly on different octaves. Masterpiece that closes the album.

Absurdity, melody, harmony, irony, strength, lightness, an engaging, inventive sound, sometimes playful, sometimes intense, never banal. The best album of its genre, Eclectic Prog that fuses Canterbury and Zeuhl of 2025. A modern masterpiece.

Listen to it, I put it on loop and never get tired of it.

Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS under the article title or on the "Artists" page

Tracklist

1. The Sigh of a Whittled Grove (6:31)
2. The Unconceivable Curse of Atahualpa (5:19)
3. Hidden Realm (1:54)
4. Top 5 des citations d'Albert Einstein (6:58)
5. Nutriscore Z (6:44)
6. Lil' Appeau (3:44)
7. An odd Bird's Bill (4:29)
8. Grmmf (7:50)

Duration 43:29

LineUp

- Paul Cossé - Fender Rhodes, automatic flute, flute, vocals, xylophone, piano, percussion, banjoline
- Lancelot Rio - Drums, automatic bass synthesizer, vocals, xylophone, piano, synthesizer, bird call, percussion, guitars