Review: Lazarus Heights – Papillon
Lazarus Heights – Papillon
Format: CD / Label: Independent
Release: 2024
Text: Tom Wouters
Lazarus Heights is an Anglo-French rock band that has been building a name for itself since 2007, mainly in the Dordogne region in the southwest of France. However, when the famous French rock drummer Jeff Gautier joined the band in 2020, it gave Lazarus Heights an unprecedented boost. The band, consisting of songwriter, singer and guitarist Dick Grisdale, keyboardist Paul Mouradian, bassist Simon Pearson and Gautier, immediately recorded the maxi EP Strangers and followed that up this year with the album ‘Papillon.’
Papillon is a song-driven album with sometimes heavy, sometimes very heavy and melodic 80s classic rock with often atmospheric walls of synth sound foundations, over which Grisdale’s powerful baritone voice and David Gilmour-like guitar playing fluctuate. That this does not degenerate into bombast is mainly due to the rock solid rhythm section. The typical European classic rock sound often reminds of a band like The Simple Minds, such as the single Papillon, Dry Martini (very heavy classic rock with an excellent rhythm tandem Pearson/Gautier), Waterfall (with a beautiful synth rock solo and outro by Mouradian), The Joker and The Pleasure.
In addition, Papillon contains a few beautiful catchy classic rock songs, such as the David Bowie-like Fall For You, Murder Blue, The Living Room and the cover of Au Suivant from one of the most emotional interpreters in the history of the French chanson, Jacques Brel, here called Next, that gets an equally emotional rock version. Among the highlights of Papillon are the beautifully sung Pink Floyd-like Dive with beautiful David Gilmour-like guitar playing and the Roger Waters-like ominous French-language Fantasie Militaire. In the epic closing track of the album, named after the band, all aspects of the unique anglo-french sound come together in an atmospheric wall of sound with strong vocals and beautiful guitar playing that never sounds over the top thanks to the rock solid rhythm section.
With ‘Papillon,’ Lazarus Heights provides a surprising enrichment of the classic rock genre in Europe.
Tracks:
01. Papillon
02. Fall For You
03. Murder Blue
04. Dry Martini
05. Dive
06. Waterfall
07. Next
08. The Joker
09. The Living Room
10. The Pleasure
11. Fantasie Militaire
12. Lazarus Heights
Website: https://www.facebook.com/lazarusheights/