photo courtesy of Rock Rose Music

Album Review of Madlen Keys: Event Horizon

The rich, lush, plush sound of French progressive rock act Madlen Keys melds a light, poppy flavor with long, meandering progressive rock musical runs to deliver a sound uniquely its own. You can hear a variety of influences in Madlen Keys’ music – obviously progressive rock, but also some timeless sixties/seventies psychedelic folk and more recent alt-rock influences.

image courtesy of Rock Rose Music

It has been quite cool having this album follow Catbells’ dream-pop album Partly Cloudy, which I reviewed yesterday, in my to-be-reviewed playlist for the last few months. There’s a dreaminess to Madlen Keys’ music that places the two much closer together sonically than you might guess from their nominal musical genres, resulting in a really pleasant back-to-back musical experience.

Madlen Keys’ album-opener, “The Maze,” sports a vocals-only beginning, with instruments following soon thereafter. The music is soft and dreamy, while the verses feature a musical accompaniment different from the rest of the song, as if they’re vocal vignettes. In true progressive rock style, the music meanders and wanders a bit but remains tethered to a consistent, recurring verse and chorus.

photo courtesy of Rock Rose Music

“Breathe” follows, with spacy sounds akin to those found on Bob Lord’s recently-reviewed album The Six Observables melding with a dreamy nature reminiscent of the Catbells album I just mentioned. “Breathe” repeatedly builds from mellowness to nearly a wall-of-music power like a more typical, straightforward rock song, but the sounds and the musical journey are soft and airy. The song ends with a reverberating, vibratingly twangy, distorted rock guitar riff. Because of the breadth of styles this song calls upon, it is the song on Event Horizon with perhaps the greatest potential crossover appeal, with the best opportunity to reach the broadest audience.

Madlen Keys mellows out a little on “Flaming Trees,” its lyrics delivered with a soft tone at first, as if a secret revealed, then more confidently firm as the song builds toward the middle. “Flaming Trees” is the longest track on the record, clocking in at more than six minutes, so it stands to reason there is a significant prog-rock instrumental section – the whole back half of the song, in fact – including a long, soaring guitar run that’ll turn this tune into a favorite among guitarists.

photo courtesy of Rock Rose Music

“Keep a Secret” is another song with a vox-only opening, this time echoing vocals with only a buzz backing them for more than a minute before the instruments slowly creep in, notably exotically-picked strings for a while, then drums, before the song finally becomes a theme-driven, not-unexpected, progressive rock jam.

“The Stream” has a nifty mid-speed tempo; its music is well-matched to the prominently-recurring lyrics, words you’ll quickly learn and sing along with: “We don’t know for certain anymore, anyhow. ‘Cause we have known and failed now for so long.” Of course, the song isn’t entirely uncertain; it builds from a softer start to a stronger finish.

“Memories of My Friends” is a soaring number that builds in power as it, like “Flaming Trees,” leans into some pretty cool prog rock guitar in the song’s back half.

photo courtesy of Rock Rose Music

“Ubik” utilizes a more haunting, uncertain tone, which continues through most of the song. Even the very late shift toward a more musically dense, voluminous sound during the last minute of the song is more disquieting than usual, setting it apart from the more cathartic musical jams in this record’s other tracks. It’s the one song on this disc that, while musically beautiful like all the rest, will leave you a little unsettled at the end.

Event Horizon ends with “Pensando en Ti.” It’s a bit more flowing and is quite clearly a storytelling song. Beginning as a lightly instrumented folky track, partway through, this song transforms into a more theatrical number, putting an oddly eclectic end to this enjoyable, creatively progressive record.

If you want to listen to individual tracks, my picks from this disc would “The Maze,” “Breathe,” and “The Stream,” but I’d recommend listening to Event Horizon in its entirety. As with many progressive rock albums, the songs fit together nicely and all contribute to the overall listening experience.

Looking Ahead

Madlen Keys has a few gigs already scheduled for 2024. You can find the concert schedule on the band’s website. (Yes, I’ve linked to the English-language version of the website.) You can also keep up with Madlen Keys via the band’s social media pages, which are listed on Madlen Keys’ linktree.