I've been familiar with Marko's playing for a decade, and although he kind of fell through the cracks for some years, he's been back on the scene, first playing on some tracks with French rock band Café Bertrand and more recently with his own project and album, Mille et Un Réveils. His brand of music has always been heavy rock and the new band is clearly in that vein: Deep Purple is a clear influence, as is the most famous French rock band Noir Désir.
I had never, however, seen him live, so I was quite eager to attend this set, especially since it's not the kind of music that usually gets played in Saint Aigan. In fact, the first few minutes saw about a quarter of the audience (mostly with white hair) leave. The rest, however, really enjoyed the powerful rock sound that Marko and his band (lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass and drums) delivered.
I was happy with the band's sound and music overall, and Marko's role as a harp player is really an interesting one. He doesn't solo on all songs, but quite often uses the effect-laden harp as an underpinning to structure lead guitar riffs. When he does solo, it's with a fast and furious phrasing, maybe not terribly inventive but quite efficient. As a side comment, what impressed me was his cool despite repeated sound issues with his amplified harp. He ended up playing some solos in the acoustic microphone, to great effect.
I think the band could do with a little more experience on two counts though: first of all, Marko's lyrics could do with a little more cynicism. As it stands, they're a little too "cute" (to my ears) for the style of music that backs them. Another aspect which was a small dissapointment was that despite evident talent the lead guitarist had very few spots in the light. Maybe that was a conscious decision due to playing at a harmonica festival, but in any case he (and the music) would have deserved a bigger solo contribution.
Still, it was a very cool and very heavy set, of the kind that Saint Aignan had never seen until now. I'll be checking Marko's band again in Paris when the opportunity arises. Meanwhile, you will find the photos I managed to make here and below is a video of Sous L'Manteau:
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