EAUBANSAN – EP REVIEW #10

Evaluated by Claude Lemaire. Max. perfect rating: 10/ A+ [sound/music] Original review published Feb. 2011
EAUBANSAN
Self-released (2007) 
Canadian CD 
Rating: 5.5/ B+
Category: Poetic Ambient Jazz
Format: CD (red book 16/44.1k)
Eaubansan:
Eaudrey Camirand: Voice, Piano
Andy King: Trumpet
Myra Camirand: Drums, Percussions
Guests:
Miles Perkins: Double Bass
Karine Chapdelaine: Double Bass 
Recorded by Marcus Paquin at Studio Planet, Montréal.
Mixed by Jef at Diamond’s Studio except vocal’s 1 to 4 & instrumental 3 mixed by Sébastien Cloutier (Newton Communication)
Mastered by Richard G. Benoit @ Circus Tricks
Music & Lyrics: Eaudrey Camirand
Photography: Luc Robitaille
Computer Graphics: Sylvain Robert (Newton Communication)
Lately I had the pleasure of discovering two wonderfully original Canadian bands; one posting a small following after two albums and the other less well known, emerging with a five song EP. What they both share is a multi linguistic approach to singing, a respect for the environment plus a deep and mutual appreciation for and from its audience. Here is the conclusion–part 3–of these encounters. 
Eaubansan, another fine trio, originally hail from the greater Montréal region in the province of Québec and like Pacifika are sometimes augmented by a fourth musician or more.

Show Rating: A

At this Sunday morning concert the trumpet was absent but Sage Reynolds’s double bass was more than welcomed. Live music performances are usually scheduled and appreciated more during late evenings but the trio’s refreshing and replenishing sound was perfectly suited for this intimate venue; such is the luxury of seeing a group slowly maturing but still in it’s infancy. In truth this charming music would be wasted on a large scale anyway; you want to feel connected.
And not only is the music charming but so is the delicacy and genuine kindness of singer-songwriter Eaudrey Camirand.
At times sounding a bit like Bjork in a meditative mood, she segues fluently from French to English in song as well as inter-song poetry. Her piano–keyboards for this particular show–playing is aptly more sparse and harmonic-like than a conventional jazz player but creates the right ambience for their style which qualifies more as ‘poetic ambient’ with jazz overtones, than traditional straight jazz. There are of course many permutations of so called ‘ambient jazz’; there’s the ECM school that on occasion flirted with New Age and more recently, ambient/electro-jazz hybrids like Nils Petter Molvaer present another explorative route. But Eaubansan doesn’t follow in either of those directions, instead the one word that keeps popping in my mind is Zen. 
The cover art with it’s soft pastel hues gives a fairly good visual approximation of the meditative vibe of this debut EP. The flip side contains the music and technical credits. A matching black and white filtered picture of the lead singer elegantly adorns the label and jewel box backdrop.
Bad timing” in 3/4 time opens with a lovely solo piano, it’s sparse playing and note decay conjuring up for me, Satie’s Gymnopédie and Vladimir Cosma’s “Promenade Sentimentale” from the Diva (soundtrack). Muted trumpet, snare brushes and bowed double bass follow, introducing more a jazzy feel to the piece.
Eaudrey Camirand comes in a few bars later, singing lightly at first, eventually being swept up by the music wave. After cresting, the rhythmic trio–this time with plucked bass–brings back the calm. Unfortunately as is so often the case in modern times, the sound is compressed, too loud, a bit ‘middy’ as well as lacking bottom and a bit of airiness.
Somewhere” is a short piece. A lone piano bathing heavily in long reverb accompanied by solitary vocals segues into…
Papillon d’eau“; crescendoed muted trumpet a la Miles Davis/Erik Truffaz followed by reverberated percussion and piano joined by nuanced double bass harmonics. Eaudrey adds a french touch with poetry winning over lyrics. Lovely back vocals interplay with the echoes of Andy King’s muted trumpet before what seems like a slightly rushed fade out. This is the most solid composition of the EP. Less compressed with better treble detail in the vocals and trumpet harmonics. While not outstanding, it remains nevertheless the best sounding track also. 
Starting out with sustained bowed double bass accompanied by crickets in the background, “Someone” sees Eaudrey swing back to English on two vocal tracks of lower and higher pitches, this one also seguing into or serving as intro for the…
Outro” is a waltz type instrumental; kind of an alternate version of the first track, perhaps to a certain degree coming full circle. Muted trumpet, snare brushes, double bass and piano play in harmony on what could easily pass for a classic, smooth sounding, mid 1950’s jazz ballad a la Miles Quartet. The finale appropriately leaving only the bass and trumpet, share the last word.

To conclude, 

Eaubansan’s debut self-release, while never passing for audiophile demo material, is nonetheless musically inspiring and worth seeking out. Hopefully future releases will be complemented by richer production, less compression and a more intimate warmer sound. Better yet is to catch them live, I promise you will leave the venue feeling true inner joy and great enlightenment.
Claude Lemaire/soundevaluations