Vivien Lalu (born 2 December 1978 in Paris, France) is a French composer, record producer, sound designer and keyboardist who plays in the melodic / progressive metal band A-Z as well as his own progressive rock project, Lalu. His distinctive signature as a Keyboardist is his inventive use of keyboard layers, which frequently combine New-age music elements with retro, progressive rock textures. Rock Hard praised Lalu for his "endlessly imaginative keyboard arrangements".
When it comes to Musical composition, The Prog Space highlighted Lalu's decision to move away from his early melodic prog metal sounds toward a "modernised" progressive rock style. Citing Yes as a major inspiration, almost religious to him, Lalu declared while promoting his latest effort, Paint the Sky: "There is only one Yes, and no one will ever be able to replace them! But I aim to bring their kind of music to a new generation".
Early life
Vivien Lalu was born on 2 December 1978 in Paris, France, to Michel Lalu, the guitarist and vocalist of French progressive rock band Polène, and Noëlle Lalu, its keyboardist.
According to Lalu, his love for progressive rock may have been prenatal; it may have originated when his pregnant mother was playing Minimoog while he was in utero. He explained that his mother's Minimoog keyboard was right under his nose as a child, and that he always preferred the smooth feel of keys to the roughness of guitars.
He also grew up listening to his parents' tape recordings, as well as progressive rock bands like Yes, Genesis, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and others, which fuelled his enthusiasm for this sort of music. He was similarly influenced by electronic music and video game music from the 1980s, having spent his first ten years of life in this decade.
Lalu used to visit his uncle one time per month, where his cousin's synthesizer was waiting for him. He would spend all day in her room making music, coming up with melodies of his own, committing them to memory before returning the following month to refine them. He claimed that one of the first songs he ever wrote as a youngster was some sort of Irish waltz.
Lalu didn't choose to become a musician at first, though. He aspired to work as a mechanic in the French Air and Space Force since he had always admired aircraft, however his eyesight and inner ear difficulties made him unsuitable for a pilot's career. He decided to pursue painting and enrolled in a school of graphic arts instead, where he initially joined his first music group, with which he played keyboards. His love for painting was subsequently neglected and totally supplanted by his love for music.
Even though Lalu had started listening to Iron Maiden while he was in school, and then around the end of college, Megadeth and Sepultura, the real "shock" happened the day he received a gift from one of his high-school friends: Dream Theater's Images and Words album. He was astonished because he had never conceived that metal music with huge guitars and double bass drums, could be combined with the progressive rock sound that he loved.
Career
Oniric Metal (2005)
In 2004, Lalu began recruiting musicians from various bands and establishing his own progressive metal project under the name "Lalu". His first full-length album Oniric Metal featured guitarist Joop Wolters on guitars, Ryan Van Poederooyen of The Devin Townsend Band on drums, Russel Bergquist of Annihilator on bass, and Martin LeMar of Mekong Delta on vocals. The album was released on Lion Music in 2005 and received the title of "Album of the Month" in the French edition of Rock Hard in May 2005.
Metal Storm called Lalu "a promising artist who will become a leader of the Progressive French scene without any doubt". ProGGnosis made a similar observation, labelling Lalu a "fresh newcomer to a scene desperate for something different".
Atomic Ark (2013)
After a lengthy absence from rock and metal music production, Lalu began working on the second Lalu opus in 2012. He handled the composition and songwriting, as well as keyboards for the entire album. The main band on Atomic Ark consisted of returning vocalist Martin LeMar, bassist Michael Lepond of Symphony X, guitarist Simone Mularoni of DGM, and drummer Virgil Donati of Planet X. It also featured a number of guest musicians, including Jens Johansson of Stratovarius and Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater among others.
Sensory Records reportedly signed the album immediately upon hearing it, and released it worldwide on 10 September 2013.