France’s KLONE are On Their Greatest Journey Yet

By Prog Sphere on March 12, 2020

It almost feels like stories could be told about how progressive rock, as a genre, has evolved throughout decades and yet, to date, it has survived and absorbed many different forms. Something similar could be said for Poitiers, France-based act Klone who changed groove-influenced progressive metal of their early albums for filled-to-the-brim-with-emotion prog rock they’ve become known for in the recent years.

Following the success of 2015’s Here Comes the Sun (Verycords Records), the band capitalized on it by signing with Kscope Music for the release of last year’s Le Grand Voyage—Klone’s most mature release and the biggest journey to date, as singer and songwriter Yann Ligner hints.

“Le Grand Voyage is first and foremost a progressive rock album,” he checks in from his homebase in Poitiers, France. “There’s also a metal approach because that’s our roots, especially in the way we approach the sound. There are also more pop tones, epic passages, sometimes cinematographic. The title—Le Grand Voyage—is a theme broad enough to present many facets. We have all made ‘great journeys’ in our lives. There are, of course, these trips in the first sense of the word; discovering new landscapes, but also encounters, having a child, building a family life. Our dreams, Life, Love, Death—all these important moments or experiences are probably great journeys. So there’s a little bit of that in this album.”

Talking to Ligner reveals the group’s vision of creating music and their way how to put it together.

“The technique, the influences must digest and be at the service of the music,” he explains and goes on saying, “we want to tell a story, through the music, the lyrics and the cover. These three elements must be in symbiosis in order to form a whole. The band has been around for a long time and we have learned to structure our way of conceiving an album. We have a working method that has been tried and tested over the years. But the novelty for this album is that we never played the songs before recording them. It’s a balance that we have found and that has paid off. After that, I don’t know if we’ll start working this way again for the next album.”

He continues: “Guillaume (guitarist) composes most of the tracks. Then we work together on the details so that I can work on the vocals and the lyrics. Then each musician brings his own touch in the interpretation of his instrument. In the end, there weren’t that many changes in the working process for this album. On the contrary, we are more and more assuming our role because every element is in its place and works perfectly.”

Yann Ligner

Klone’s evolution has been steady. The core duo of Ligner and guitarist Guillaume Bernard have worked together since the release of 2004 debut album Duplicate, and Yann sees the clearly how the band evolved over the years.

“I think that every musician goes more and more to the essentials,” says Ligner. “In our music, there used to be a lot of riffs before. The structures of the songs were less obvious and more convoluted. The identity of the sound became clearer as the albums went on. The guitars have given up saturation, and the same goes for the vocals. We are more in tune with the songs we offer on the latest albums than the first ones.”

According to Ligner a huge part of Klone’s music is what happens in everyday life.

“Cinema, literature, nature, family and friends, silence, animals, art in general,” he goes on saying. “It doesn’t feed directly into the music, but these things have an undeniable influence in the way you approach music.”

Klone have just finished their European Tour with Leprous and Maraton in support to Le Grand Voyage. To someone who hasn’t heard the album yet, Yann’s message is: “They’ll find something to take their mind off things, with a hovering atmosphere, powerful riffs, bewitching melodies and dreamlike lyrics. But in the end, like all music, it all depends on the mood and the context the listener will be in before discovering this album. We just hope they will have a good trip!”

Klone’s sixth studio album Le Grand Voyage is out now via Kscope Music; order it from this location. Follow Klone on Facebook and Instagram.