The most proliferant adjectives encountered in reviews on Les Poules a Colin (The Hens Colin) and their CDs and concerts are “sparkling” and “fresh”, partially because they haven’t had the time to get jaded. The quintet, four women and 1 guy, is composed of childhood friends who'd formed the band six years ago, as teens aged 14 to 19. Mostly, their work is quietly serious while mellifluously vibrant, and I suppose one could say the stylistic wont is progressive folk-Americana…but when I cite that, I mean ‘North Americana’ because our neighbors to the north have been showing us what’s what for a goodly period now. More, despite the abundant modernizations, Les Poules has been winning awards from trad music realms.

In this group can be found influences and essences of Weekend, Guggenheim Grotto, a touch of Gorillaz, Flairck, Al Stewart, Valdy, McKendree Spring, Hometown Band, Decemberists, and various others. The ensemble is Quebecois but knows its Celtica quite well, as heard in “La Suite de Mme Bovary” and elsewhere. The vocals are entirely in harmony and almost always by the lasses (Sarah, Beatrix, Eleonore, Marie), who also play piano, bass, guitars, and violin while Colin (heh!, get it? The Hens of Colin?, get it?) wields guitar, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki, vocals, and….feet! We hear tons of vivacity interspersed but also a good deal of madrigal francais, balladry, and wistfulness. Then, when the fivesome gets down in its instrumentals, clear the decks ‘cause even grand’mere and grand-pere are going to be cutting a rug all the way from Ville-Marie over to the old country in Eurolandia.

So impressive has LPAC been to young and old here and across the seas that they’re presently on tour in Europe, where I’ve no doubt they’ll receive the same rave reviews their studio work has garnered, then on to the good ol’ U.S. of A. through July, and finally Canada in August. I don’t see them slated for any bluegrass festivals, but they should be, as the band would be a sensation there as well. The drivingly insistent “Breakfast at the Methe’s” alone would set b-g crowds on their ear. The CD liner’s entirely in French, but don’t worry about that: once the music kicks in, I don’t think you’ll be doing too much reading but instead sipping sonically at le vin de vie.