Sunday 3 January 2016

In The Wake of King Fripp (Heldon, 1975)

The French band Heldon went through many styles and moods during their career, but surely the second album "Heldon II Allez Teia", including this opening track, is their mellowest work. As revealed by the title, this is a patent hommage to Robert Fripp, set up by Heldon's leader Robert Pinhas. You could name thousands of derivative tracks in our genre, but this one, at least, is openly stated in the first place. Abandoning their usual electronic experiments,

Heldon were a foursome for this album... with no drummer at all!

Heldon perform a pastoral instrumental, full of Mellotron and even acoustic guitars. That said, in this piece of music there's more than meet the ears: an ambient flavour, a spacey influence, an acid background that enrich the Crimsonian sound and put it further along a somewhat weirdest path. That's why I like "In The Way of King Fripp": wrapped up as a kind present to Mr. Fripp himself, it actually explores winding roads and hypnotic alleys... a treat I still enjoy so much...

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