Jehann Corvus is the solo project of… Jehann Corvus. He started his music career in the metal scene in the 90’s. This project was actually a metal project to start with as well, but something made him change the sound drastically. The music on this, his first release (besides two demos) smells like :Of the Wand and the Moon: (Lucifer era) and Current 93 (Thunder Perfect Mind era). It’s dark and slow in the traditional neofolk way, with an acoustic guitar, keyboard, piano, flute and violin. The compositions are very predictable and short on surprises. At times it’s boring but not often bad. I like the violins quite a bit, they are really well played and fit perfectly in the music, too bad they aren’t very common. Why didn’t Jehann let more violins in?

Jehann himself has labeled his music as 'mystical folk music'. Since the music isn’t very mystical, I guess the lyrics are but I can’t tell since they are written in French, a language I don’t master at all but really enjoy listening to. Jehann sings with a very theatrical and sad voice, it almost sounds like he’s crying in some parts, and this has a tendency to irritate me. Therefore am I ambivalent when it comes to the singing part. Annoying or beautiful? I just can’t make up my mind.

As you might understand, this is not the album of the year. Out of seven tracks, I actually find only two enjoyable from start to finish without boring me. "À l'aube du crépuscule" and "Les sombres flots du temps" are certainly the standout songs. But even though the music is a bit boring and more built on clichés rather than personal ideas there is surely potential to be found. Jehann doesn’t seem to be a bad musician, maybe he just does not have the courage to stand out and do his own thing this early in the career? I’m sure this artist will grow and kick Lonsai Maikov off the throne and claim the title 'the master of French acoustic neofolk' in a few years.
If you don’t like the music I can at least recommend you to look at the gorgeous cover art!

CME