Yang – A Complex Nature — and NST feature!

Yang – A Complex Nature (2004)

At the risk of sounding completely pretentious, Yang is the best jazzy instrumental prog band you’ve never heard of — unless you’re 1) a big prog rock fan living in France, 2) a dedicated prog rock nerd living elsewhere or 3) you entered King Crimson into your Pandora station (guilty). Band leader and guitarist Frederic L’Epee has a lot of experience under his belt and while he gives a nod to Robert Fripp in tone and technique at times, Yang has developed a unique and thunderously engaging sound.

A Complex Nature opens with “Les Deux Mondes” (The Two Worlds) with a cyclical pattern of distorted harmonics that drive the tune throughout, joined shortly after by slow-tempo thudding drums and a neck-humbucker-with-tone-rolled-down lead that immediately calls Fripp to mind (good luck searching for those damn harmonics in standard tuning, by the way — more on that later). I have some homework to do yet on the other members of Yang, but L’Epee, much like Fripp, likes to sprinkle diminished triads throughout lead and rhythm work, making for a refreshing, fluid and jazzy approach to what could easily be a bog-standard rock solo. “Les Deux Mondes” is a heavier rock piece that opens the album up well and sets the tone for the next few tunes.

“Soulterrain” is #2, featuring twin staccato guitar rhythms dipped in reverb and a simple bassline. It’s a bit faster than “Les Deux Mondes;” it’s an exercise in syncopation and each guitar works with/against each other in true Fripp/Belew-era Crimson fashion. There’s a lot to like in this one — even a simple scalar pattern rocks in the right context and L’Epee proves it.

A bit later is “Compassion,” one of my favorites on the album, It starts out with a mellow, ringing arpeggio pattern before the lead kicks in — what sounds like a descending minor pattern, but with paced, jumping octaves. It took me by surprise at first and still remains a pretty exciting listen. Very tasty lead work. The rhythm section is incredibly solid, leaving enough room for fills without overbearing the listener. The same is true throughout the album.

I could go on and on about this album and give a play-by-play — the flamenco-y, Wes Montgomery-esque midsection of “Manchild;” the poppy “Impatience” with some odd, later-period Led Zeppeliny harmonies; the kick-ass riffage in “Le Masque Rouge;” the tour-de-force closer “Orgueil.” But this is an album to be experienced. There’s keen musicianship, there are subtle touches that recall myriad influences and there’s superb songwriting. Get it.

L’Epee was awesome enough to respond to a message I sent to him on YouTube. I inquired about some “Les Deux Mondes” theory and about his rig. Hopefully he won’t mind if I post those messages here:

Les 2 Mondes is built on different modes and played with New Standard Tuning (C-G-D-A-E-G from bass to treble).
So the piece is in C, but mainly based on a lydian with minor 7th (C-D-E (or Eb)-F#-G-A-Bb) at the begining. Sometimes back to normal C, Lydian F (still C) along with some appoggiaturas (D#)and so on. But if you don’t play it on a NST guitar, you’ll have real difficulties.

If when listening to a NST tune you recognise [the tuning], it’s most of the time because people use it the same way they use OST, with the same finger patterns. NST must be used like on a cello. I’ve really learned to play it by trying to play Bach cello suites. The other reason why you didn’t notice it on The Two Worlds is that I often write music before to play it on the guitar. If it is too low or notes are too wide apart from each other, I use NST.

I use a Les Paul Custom and an ESP “the eclipse” (ancient model) for NST.
As amplifier : Fender Twin Reverb or Blues Deluxe (or Deville)
Actually I use Blues Deluxe amp on recordings (both albums) and Twin Rev. on stage.
A Proco Rat, and Lexicon “Jam Man” for loops and delay.

All the best

Frederic

What’d I tell you? The dude’s a class act. Check out A Complex Nature and look for Machines this year. Details on Yang’s YouTube page and MySpace.

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I decided to make this a two-part feature with a little introduction to New Standard Tuning, an exciting approach to guitar tuning spearheaded by none other than Mr. Fripp. “Les Deux Mondes,” according to L’Epee, is the only tune on A Complex Nature in NST, but it’s worth exploring just to find those opening harmonics. For more on NST, check out YouTube for examples, especially the awesome Level Five (new link: Level Five) and Fripp’s League of Crafty Guitarists (damn copyright claims: League search) series in five parts.

NST for guitar is C G D A E G, or the low E -2 steps, A -1 step, D stays the same, G +1 step, B +3 steps and the high E +2 steps. It’s best to have a dedicated guitar for experimenting, but you can usually tune to NST without damaging your guitar. Get a string set with a heavy bottom gauge and a lighter top so the tension is even.

Once in NST, you’ll notice that standard chords and scale patterns obviously don’t work the same way. I’ll update this with a little exercise of some sort when I get one of my guitars in NST…UPDATE 9/31: I’m in a bit of a financial pinch, so I had to sell off all but one of my geetars. So this part will be delayed until further notice. UPDATE 7/9: Guitars are back! This section will thrive soon!

~ by switty on June 18, 2008.