Anyone aware of the Montreal avant-prog and musique actuelle scenes knows about guitarist Bernard Falaise -- in addition to his comparatively high-profile gig with longstanding avant-proggers Miriodor, he has graced concert stages and recordings in practically every avant-gardist setting imaginable, as a member of the electro-acoustic free exploratory Klaxon Gueule, Claude St-Jean's contemporary jazz-rockish Les Projectionnistes, Pierre Labbé's chamber jazzish ensemble, the Jimmy Giuffre-inspired trio that recorded Joue Free, the two-guitarist/two-drummer Montreal-Vancouver tandem free improv quartet the Unexpected, and on and on. His first solo album, 2000's Do, garnered much critical acclaim -- with the word "masterpiece" kicked around in some quarters, which would seemingly set the bar quite high for the guitarist's next outing. Well, in December 2007 that next CD, Clic, arrived, revealing that Falaise was in no apparent danger of a sophomore slump. One might naturally expect a musician such as Falaise, who possesses killer chops along with utter mastery of electronic effects both live and in the studio, to use his solo efforts as an opportunity to cut loose with displays of the "guitar hero" variety, since he is such a team-playing collaborator in his other settings, placing the needs of the ensemble ahead of any egotistic shredder tendencies. But Do demonstrated his ability to multi-track his guitar and other instrumentation with an admirable lack of grandstanding, and Clic proceeds even further away from the guitar as focal point (although Falaise does rip out a few concise and compelling solos and steps into the spotlight occasionally, with his instrument sometimes so sonically disguised that you can't be sure it's a guitar). In fact, Clic immediately places Falaise in the absolute top tier of avant-prog composers and arrangers for diverse instrumentation, not to mention a master of studio-based wizardry. A reading of the personnel should tip the listener off even before the music (or, more accurately, digital clicks, sampled voice, and circus calliope) of brief leadoff track "Allô" emanates in curious fashion from the speakers: in addition to Falaise on guitars, bass, banjo, mandolin, keyboards, percussion, turntables, and "manipulations diverses," the musicians present include saxophonist/flutist Jean Derome, clarinetist Lori Freedman, trombonist Tom Walsh, trumpeter Gordon Allen, drummer/percussionist Jean Martin, and Julien Grégoire on marimba. This would be a phenomenal live band, but Falaise has stated that "most of this music would be near impossible to perform live," and in fact the musicians individually overdubbed their contributions.

1		Allô
2		Tricheur
3		Watt
4		Thon
5		Lime
6		Tour
7		Mule
8		Yéti
9		Fête
10		Neuf
11		Luna
12		Moka
13		Clic