Forgas Band Phenomena and
Spinal Tap have something in common: they both "go to 11." Of course,
Spinal Tap's "11" refers to the extra kick derived from
Nigel Tufnel's guitar amp, capable of being turned up "one louder than ten." In
FBP's case, "11" signifies the number of beats per measure in a typical piece of music written by bandleader/drummer/composer
Patrick Forgas, whose own extra kick might be delivered to the kick drum itself, right before each bar line in the score. Nobody can nail the groove in a time signature with a seven, nine, 11, or 13 in the numerator like
Patrick Forgas, who is (for the most part) seemingly allergic to mundane four-on-the-floor rhythms, and
Acte V (the fifth album by
Forgas and ensemble under the
FBP moniker and third
FBP release on Cuneiform) is a fine place to immerse oneself in his rhythmic world. The CD portion of this CD/DVD set is quintessential
FBP, with the same septet lineup featured on 2009's
L'Axe du Fou, including, in addition to
Forgas himself, saxophonist
Sébastien Trognon, trumpeter
Dimitri Alexaline, guitarist
Benjamin Violet, violinist
Karolina Mlodecka, keyboardist
Igor Brover, and bassist
Kengo Mochizuki.
Forgas' layered compositional approach is in evidence from the start of opening track "Corps et Âmes," as he taps out a stop-start cymbal pattern over
Brover's pausing figure on the keys; the drummer fills in the rhythmic gaps as bass and guitar enter, soon joined by violin and trumpet -- and yes,
FBP are "going to 11," and actually have been from the first cymbal tap.