After “D’une Pierre deux Tombes”, a funereal and introspective album released in 2021, Opéra Multi Steel returns with its thirteenth studio album: “Les Passions tristes”.

The group remains faithful to the sound of the founding instruments that have made it unique since its beginnings. The evolution started on the previous album with the use of more electro rhythms and sequences continues. The pride of place remains given to the vocal melodies, synthetic pads and mechanical backgrounds created by the three musicians and which are a trademark of Opéra Multi Steel, sometimes tinged with recorders that sometimes bring a medieval hint. The band therefore evolves with constancy, without however denying its origins.

That said, the music, more up-tempo than on the previous album, does not engender a frenzied melancholy. OMS has always known how to keep distance from the members respective obsessions by mitigating them with a veil of irony and by sprinkling their songs with occasional or referential sound effects, some of them are directly linked to childhood, history, literature, cinema… OMS remains for its members the crucible in which they can mix their common or individual inclinations and their personal stories… The tragedy of some themes is never exempt from a certain dose of lightness in the tone… Some tracks could be easily danceable (Dites-nous, Tout en Tous, Tombés à Terre, Le Soleil est parti…) Some others are developing some more melancholic mood (A nos Moments perdus, Les Toiles…). Au grand Jamais with Catherine Marie as lead vocalist will bring back some memories from a previous side-project of OMS members called “O Quam Tristis”.

LP / CD / Digital Album

“D’une Pierre deux Tombes” is the twelfth Opera Multi Steel’s studio album. It includes 8 tracks in its vinyl version and 12 tracks as cd format. For this last opus, the band turns back as a trio, in the original line-up of its beginnings, namely Patrick L. Robin, Franck Lopez and Catherine Marie. In 2018, Catherine, Patrick and Franck lost their respective mothers. This album was therefore partly conceived as a posthumous tribute to two dear ones, hence its title in French which takes the form of both a pun and a macabre observation.

All the tracks, even if they still contain what makes the sound and the particular style of the band are imbued with a sadness and a nostalgia arguably more present. The theme of death and vanity is more powerful than ever (Cimeterre, L’Après-Mort…). Opéra Multi Steel develops in this album a bit darker music than usual. Melodies and vocal harmonies are always favored, supported on several tracks by Future Pop sounds of strings and electronic rhythms which reinforce the tragic mood of the concept (L’Annonce, La Nuit des Doutes, Intercession…).
The album, in its cd version, is punctuated after each track by the sound of the old cuckoo clock that remained alone on the walls of the empty house of Patrick and Franck’s mother after her disappearance as the witness of a persistent presence. We can also hear the last phone vocal message from his mother to Patrick. This cathartic album, over the songs, takes the form of a sound testament aimed at exorcising fate and facilitating resilience.

The cover artwork, made by Brazilian designer Hernan Czauski with photos taken by the band’s members in several ancient French cemeteries, features details of 19th century sculpted tombstones that evoke both the eternal Silence of the Grave, the Fidelity beyond Death and the inconsolable Sorrows.

LP / CD / Digital Album

Isolated Versions is a new single ep with five wonderful covers OMS did time ago for 2 eternal classics from the past + 3 french covers.

Digital Album