Paris – Only One Life

This may be their debut album, but Paris – named after the French capital, in which the band’s central pairing of vocalist/keyboard player Frédéric Dechavanne and guitarist Sébastien Montet were brought up – trace their roots back three decades, to the heady days of AOR supremacy as evinced by the likes of ‘Pyromania’ era Def Leppard and Journey’s ‘Raised On Radio’.  Having gone their separate ways (sic) for more than 20 years, the two boyhood friends met up again, both which each other and famed Italian AOR producer Alessandro Del Vecchio (best known for his work with Lionville, Hardline and Issa), at Firefest in 2011, and so the spark to revive the duo’s nascent musical career was relit.

The result, ‘Only One Life’, is an album which is very much rooted in the era which inspired its creators, filled with huge pop-rock melodies, eminently danceable hooks and soaring vocal harmonies.  Opener ‘Dancing On The Edge’ sets the tone right from outset, sounding like it wouldn’t have sounded out of place on an early FM or Shy album:  in fact, the album as a whole is closer in its sound and feel to the English interpreters of melodic rock than its US progenitors, especially with its emphasis on guitars than than over-burdening the sound with layers of parping keyboards (although these are present but very much used, with a few exceptions, to add depth to the overall sound of the material).

By and large, it’s an album which wears its inspiration very much on its sleeve, drawing on elements of Night Ranger (such as on ‘Every Time You walk Away’), Styx (‘America’) and Leppard (‘Longer That I Care To Remember’, for example, could have been lifted straight from the ‘Hysteria’ or ‘Adrenalize’ sessions):  the songs are all beautifully crafted, performed and produced and ‘Only One Life’ works both as an homage to the golden era of the music from which it takes its cue but as a strong statement of its potential vibrancy in the modern age.

Track list:

1.  Dancing On The Edge

2.  What Should We Be Saying?

3.  South Of Love

4.  Every Time You Walk Away

5.  America

6.  Longer Than I Care To Remember

7.  The Clock

8.  On Fire

9.  When The Lights Fade Away

10.  Handle With Care

11.  For The Time Still To Come

”Only One Life’ is out now on Avenue Of Allies:  http://www.avenue-of-allies.com/

Find out more about Paris on their official Facebook page @

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paris-official/119011491619131