Cyann & Ben

Sweet Beliefs

(Ever Records)

Record Review by Michael Lodge

Cyann & Ben are a four-piece from the grey, rainy, provincial French town of Charleville-Mezieres. Sweet Beliefs suggests the depressing climate has taken its toll on their state of mind. Folks in Charleville-Mezieres may still be a miserable crowd but Cyann & Ben moved to jolly Paris to guzzle overpriced beer as soon as they could. They have, however, internalized the rain and it still informs their music.

Their sound comprises ethereal choral sounds, held organ notes, pensive piano lines, swelling band surges, chiming guitar work and vocals that often just drift rather than hook. Imagine if Radiohead, Mogwai and a depressed Chris Martin had been stuck down a well for five years then somebody finally threw them a rope and a recording contract. Actually, it’s not that good.

The opener, “Words,” sets the mood with its sinister chugging rhythm, dark changes and fluttering organ arpeggios. The title track is perhaps the strongest on the album with Cyann’s vocals giving the song some lift away from the moody piano part and the song climaxes with a baleful guitar riff.

But many tracks just don’t get off the ground. “Somewhere in the Light of Time” and the fraudulently titled “Sunny Morning” amble in and out, never fully developed. “In Union With…” is sparse and fragile with random scratching guitar noise intruding into the free time sprawl.

Sweets Beliefs isn’t for everyone but even if melancholy is your hit of choice you may be disappointed here. The main problem is that the words are difficult to decipher (all in English, though) and the vocal lines rarely rise out of the doldrums. For the most part, the ‘depressing high’ you love in other bands music just isn’t there.