Present

Born from the late-1970s Rock in Opposition movement that united several progressive ensembles, Present emerged as a Belgian avant-garde unit whose brooding sound was shaped by guitarist and composer Roger Trigaux, an alumnus of the chamber-prog group Univers Zero. The band issued two limited-edition albums in the early 1980s that later attracted Cuneiform reissues, then remained inactive for nearly ten years until Trigaux revived the project in 1993 alongside his son Reginald. Returning to the Cuneiform roster, Present issued several live documents before delivering the studio album Certitudes in 1998 and later highlights such as 2005’s A Great Inhumane Adventure and 2009’s Barbaro (Ma Non Troppo), the latter appearing on Ad Hoc. Throughout the 2010s the ensemble continued to tour across Europe.

Trigaux had co-established Univers Zero in 1974 with drummer Daniel Denis before departing in 1979 to launch Present with pianist Alain Rochette; Denis maintained dual membership in both groups. Bassist Christian Genet performed on the debut LP Triskaïdékaphobie (fear of the number 13), which was tracked and mixed from January through May 1980 and issued that same year by Atem. Ferdinand Philippot took the bass chair for the follow-up Le Poison Qui Rend Fou (the poison that causes madness), captured in late January and early February 1983, yet label and touring setbacks postponed its release until Steve Feigenbaum of Cuneiform obtained a tape and brought the album out on his label in 1985. By then the musicians had dispersed, leaving Present as a duo of Trigaux and percussionist Pierre Narcisse that produced an unreleased demo in 1986.

After years of inactivity, Trigaux reconstituted Present in the mid-1990s; later configurations retained several founding members while adding Reginald Trigaux on second guitar and American expatriate drummer Dave Kerman, previously of 5uu’s, U Totem, and Thinking Plague. The group’s music shares the somber atmosphere of Univers Zero yet tends toward more insistent arpeggiation and a rock-driven approach, augmented after 2000 by cello and saxophone. Most recordings have appeared on Cuneiform or Carbon 7, though the ambitious two-disc set Barbaro (Ma Non Troppo) from 2010, comprising a CD of newly recorded and revisited material plus a DVD of festival performances and archival footage, was released by Ad Hoc Records. Cuneiform compiled the first two albums on a single disc in 1989 and, in 2014, reissued them separately in expanded editions that include live bonus tracks; these versions were digitally restored and remastered by Udi Koomran and accompanied by vintage photographs together with historical essays by Aymeric Leroy and Renato de Moraes.