MAKING SENSE

3 years after the "Big Face" album, the band fronted by Stephane Desbiens is back with another list of musicians including Sean Filkins (guitar), Claude Leonetti that plays this unique instrument; the Leode, a combination of guitar and synth. The Nemo's keyboardist Guillaume Fontaine plays some keyboards, Isabelle Cormier (violin) and the Jazz musician Giovanni Ortega plays a lot of saxophone throughout this album. The album name "Making Sense" is a concept that turns back to his former band Sense and he decided to bring back the song "Out of Range"/"Out of Line" from those days. From the first song "Rear-View Mirror" that shows a King Crimson influence with his dark sound and heavy guitars to the next one "Making Sense" that display his usual Pink Floyd influence, Desbiens and his band show his love for different style of music of the past in the progressive world. There are also some Jazz sections with a lot of saxophone and an exotic song "Spanish Castle" were Desbiens show his talent on guitars. In fact, the guitars have always been the dominant instrument on D-Project, acoustic or electric, the keyboards are in the background, but have their moments at times. Some songs have many breaks and unusual structures even an avant-garde passage in the song "Nothing Here is Innocent". All this has been directed by the recording engineer Andy Jackson of Pink Floyd. So you get the idea of the quality of that album that could be the best album of the band right now.

Canadian venture THE D PROJECT was formed back in 2006 by composer and musician Stephane Desbiens and writer Francis Foy, and to date they have released a total of 4 studio albums. Common denominators among them is that they tend to be theme-based, and seek to incorporate influences from the likes of Pink Floyd, Genesis and King Crimson in an adventurous and non-conform manner. "Making Sense" is the most recent album by the project, released in 2014.

"Making Sense" is a challenging production in the sense that it combines multiple styles within many of the compositions, and with a tendency to pair styles that are fairly different from one another at that. The material is well performed and produced, and while not managing to fascinate me on an emotional level, I can easily see why someone, who listen to music with more of an intellectual approach, will find this excursions charming. Ranging from frail piano movements and electronic oriented themes to jazz-tinged excursions, neo-prog and metal, I'd suggest that those who have an affection for varied, challenging progressive rock and tend to regard music as more of an intellectual than emotional ride to be the prime audience for this disc.

A minor key piano, add a matching ominous Sabbath-esque guitar, add crashing of bass and drums for a doom metal intro to The D-Project's "Rearview Mirror". The song goes light and airy for the first verse and then back to heavy. Then light. Then heavy. The head parts are wonderful for headbanging. But there's saxophone. And well, but this album is off to an interesting start.

The D-Project is a band formed by Stephane Desbiens (I'm guessing he's French Canadian) and this is the fourth studio album. It explores a range of styles and textures from the heavy/light cross of the opening track to the "Comfortably Numb" feel of the title track to the electronica intro to "What is Real", which goes back to a hard rock sound plus some violin and a lighter side again. Basically you can't really guess what's coming up next but it stays together and works.

Perhaps it's the accent of Desbiens, but I find there's an almost European touch to the vocals. And maybe the French Canadian side also adds to the different feel of the music.

As the album progresses, I feel the pop side asserts itself in the sung parts but then prog side really begins to rear its head. "Nothing Here is Innocent" moves through traditional prog, to heavy prog, to jazzy prog, to speedy guitar soloing and weird climbing keyboard notes. And then a wild bass solo with drums!

Sean Filkins is credited with guitar but I hear his vocals on the soft piano ballad "Missing Star". It's a beautiful track and Sean's voice adds character. Cello and viola come in and then acoustic guitar. The saxophone solo is really like the style heard on Pink Floyd albums: warm and emotive. Powerful music.

Completely out of left field comes "Spanish Castle", a wonderful acoustic guitar instrumental accompanied by drums, bass and violin. Unexpected and a pleasant listening experience.

"Dagger" has a very eighties pop ballad sound right from the guitar through to the drums and melody. It is a simple song but a beautiful chorus. Short and sweet.

The album wraps up with "Out of Range / Out of Line" which begins innocently enough as a passionate rock song with acoustic guitar and electric. Then it switches to acoustic guitar and flute. But then this track too takes a dive into a creative instrumental workout that should appeal to prog fans. Watch that bass lead the way! Guitar shredding. And that bass is demanding attention again. The adventure continues with the band showing what they are made of. For prog instrumentals, this song is one of two highlights on the album. Again full of surprises.

Stephane Desbiens and company have put together an album that balances pop rock with some heavier rock and a healthy dose of more aggressive but also beautiful progressive elements. A band worth checking out and one with great album cover work!