Zao - Kawana

Kawana from 1976 finds Zao abandoning the string quartet heard on Shekina and enlisting Didier Lockwood - fresh from his stint with Magma - on electric violin. This album also has little of the Zeuhl influence left that informed their previous works. For one, the vocal element is almost gone. Second, the sound is closer to traditional mid seventies jazz-rock, that is well played if also a bit overproduced. Synthesizers appear on this album and while they aren't necessarily unlistenably cheesy, they nonetheless make this album sound slightly dated. Alas, Yochk'o Seffer does not play woodwinds other than soprano and sopranino saxophone, the latter instrument sounding even more shrill than former. While he's definitely a talented sax player, his highest pitched saxophones are truly an acquired taste, particularly whenever he takes a solo. While Didier Lockwood turns in some great solos and helps masking the occasional shrillness of sax during the written unison parts, Lockwood's playing is more bombastic and fusion-ish than the wonderfully understated, yet adventurous violin work of Jean-Yves Rigaud. As such, Kawana is an underwhelming work when put next to previous three Zao albums.

Still, the album has some worthwhile compositions. Francois Cahen's "Natura" opens the album, featuring great piano and keyboard work and excellent progression. It has a tranquil and soothing feel that is only sabotaged by shrill sopranino sax, but otherwise an enjoyable piece. Another highlight is "Free Folk", that opens with backwards harmony vocal parts from Seffer, that were later incorporated into the title track of Seffer's Ima, which might have been a work in progress already at later parts of 1976. This intro is definitely the most Zeuhl-oriented moment on the entire album. The composition itself is another edgy, dark jazz-fusion workout almost reminiscent of early seventies Soft Machine, where Lockwood also delivers a Ponty-esque violin solo. Other compositions aren't necessarily failures as they might grow on the listener after a while. It is simply that Kawana is generally a more traditional jazz-rock record that shares none of the inventiveness of previous albums. Apparently Yochk'o Seffer himself realized this as apparently he wasn't happy with the way other band mates didn't wish to follow the direction established on Shekina. In November 1976 Seffer left Zao and dedicated his attention to his Neffesh Music project where he could compose and execute just what he had in mind. Zao itself lingered on for a while, recorded an album where only Cahen had remained from the original lineup and then disintegrated.