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D PROJECT

Neo-Prog • Canada


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D Project picture
D Project biography
Founded in Québec, Canada in 2006

Better known as founder and leader of the progressive Canadian band SENSE, Stephane Desbiens makes no compromises on Shimmering lights, offering us an exceptional and unconventional musical experience. Calling on its various influences, from blues, hard rock to jazz and classical music, this amazing guitarist makes no excuses as he proposes a very personal and alternative view of progressive rock music.

Tomas Bodin from Flower Kings, Martin Orford from IQ and Fred Schendel from Glass Hammer have all contributed to this very special project

Two years after the "Shimmering Lights" album, a new D PROJECT is in the making. In "The Sagarmatha Dilemma", STÉPHANE DESBIENS explores new musical horizons as he interprets the EVEREST EXPERIENCE in his own special way. Once again, he calls upon author and producer FRANCIS FOY to put words on his inspired music. Special guests such as DEREK SHERINIAN (ex DREAM THEATER), STU NICHOLSON (GALAHAD), BRETT KULL (ECHOLYN), and JOHN GREEN (SINGULARITY).

D PROJECT Videos (YouTube and more)


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D PROJECT discography


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D PROJECT top albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

3.76 | 87 ratings
Shimmering Lights
2006
4.03 | 113 ratings
The Sagarmatha Dilemma
2008
3.99 | 177 ratings
Big Face
2011
3.91 | 224 ratings
Making Sense
2014
3.91 | 134 ratings
Find Your Sun
2018

D PROJECT Live Albums (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

D PROJECT Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

D PROJECT Boxset & Compilations (CD, LP, MC, SACD, DVD-A, Digital Media Download)

D PROJECT Official Singles, EPs, Fan Club & Promo (CD, EP/LP, MC, Digital Media Download)

D PROJECT Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Find Your Sun by D PROJECT album cover Studio Album, 2018
3.91 | 134 ratings

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Find Your Sun
D Project Neo-Prog

Review by alainPP

4 stars "FIND YOUR SUN" is the 5th CD released with hard rock, jazzy, classical accents on a timeless PROG base.

8 tracks for 3/4 hour of music, quite short... let's "The end" as an entry with a melting pot sound of great beauty, we have everything, from the gripping intro with the soft voice to the guitar sequences, violent violin, flute and guitar with a good riff at the end; It's off to a good start! "Crude reality" strange with a slightly aggressive voice and chorus, a very heavy bass then a sound in the vein of a KING CRIMSON from the "Red" era with a breathtaking sax. The jewel of the album in my opinion is to come with two captivating consecutive titles with "Tell Me" melancholic synth intro, Parsons-Nian sound (yes, I like to invent to try to capture the sound impression!) then floydienne and crimson-nienne to finish with a violin solo to make you pale. "The Sting" follows, taking a yes-sien detour from the opening of the following title with acoustic guitar, still dark atmosphere, we approach the atmospheres of "The wall" at this precise moment, then lightening with a horn coming from beyond the grave (thank you Romain!)!

"Life to spare" the pop-FM title with a frantic rhythm, a bass still omnipresent, then synth sounds flirting with N.MORSE or TRANSATLANTIC to slowly fall back. "Be kind" the ballad of the album sung here by Peter FALCONER (Drifting Sun) with an acoustic guitar gradually rising towards an explosive electric opening, a riff that H. HADJI (for my Quebecois friends Hassan is the guitarist of the group ANGE! ) would affection with power and emotion (at 3'20'' to be precise!!), then return to the chorus and the symphonic violins, here again a little APP for me, in short the 2nd slap of the album! "Find your sun" follows, broken down into three parts, with clear piano and intro synth for a typically prog extension with T. LEVIN-style bass firmly in place, a voice that becomes almost violent, the riff of the voice combined to that of the guitar, then suddenly the CRICHTON-style solo, then the violin which tempers the high notes and which will seek out sounds flirting with spleen, then again the guitar and the voice in a hard register, always confusing, not the time to finally get bored! It is at this moment that we can realize the convolutions that S. DESBIENS brings to his songs by passing from one musical tune to another, from one musical state to another. The last song "Be free" with a soft, simple acoustic intro will allow us to bring a DESBIENS-style guitar solo, a twirling solo it is, the voice then resuming on the same register, it's beautiful, energetic, it's is mostly a clean sound.

 Find Your Sun by D PROJECT album cover Studio Album, 2018
3.91 | 134 ratings

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Find Your Sun
D Project Neo-Prog

Review by Windhawk
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Canadian band THE D PROJECT have been around since 2006, and was formed by Stephane Desbiens just prior to his former band Sense appeared to call it quits. Five studio albums have appeared since then, and the most recent of these appeared in 2018. The album is called "Find Your Sun" and was released via Ozeta Productions.

The D Project as of 2018 comes across as a creative and innovative band. The music on "Find Your Sun" contains enough details, changes and alterations to feel fresh and new for an extended period of listening time. The core audience for such an album would most likely be those with a special interest in bands that have an eclectic approach to progressive rock, and who don't mind that subgenres as neo progressive rock and progressive metal are among the elements used in a rather well flavored stew.

 Find Your Sun by D PROJECT album cover Studio Album, 2018
3.91 | 134 ratings

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Find Your Sun
D Project Neo-Prog

Review by BrufordFreak
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

2 stars The usual top-notch instrumental performances from Stéphane and guests trying to melt multiple styles and structures into the framework of single songs. The justifications for such odd, hodge-podge, patchork compositions are only, as always, in the mind of M. Désbains; as usual, they don't really make sense (or pleasure) to me. I'm surprised producer Andy Jackson (whose rendering of sound quality is great) allows these often disjointed and incongruous sections to end up in their final sections. Perhaps the Stéphane-Andy team have a vision that progressive rock should always be constituted from the gluing together of many separate songs into one. (Lord, what a precedent Peter Gabriel GENESIS created with "Supper's Ready"!) As always with Stéphane albums, there are great sections, great instrumental performances, cogent and relative lyrics, yet I have trouble liking any one song start to finish. The best song he's ever produced (and the only one that remains on constant rotation among my playlists) is the amazing title song from 2006's "Shimmering Lights."

3.5 Stars based upon the strength of "The End," "Find Your Sun," and "Be Free" and 12-string guitars. You be your own judge.

 Find Your Sun by D PROJECT album cover Studio Album, 2018
3.91 | 134 ratings

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Find Your Sun
D Project Neo-Prog

Review by Speedy prog

5 stars I discovered this band with Making Sense in 2014. This last album is in my opinion the best of D. Project. This album contains great guitar works, solid compositions, inspired lyrics.For me this album is a must for 2018. I like the intro song, The End, with its various changes, a heavy bass lines, guitar riffs like King Crimson and a section reminiscent of CSNY. Crude Reality reminds me GENESIS, (early era), and you dig into an heavy section with a choir, awesome. The longest song of the album, Tell Me, with his catchy chorus, with his jazzy finale and his beautiful violin solo.. The cd continues with the song The Sting's kind of PINK FLOYD period WISH YOU HERE WERE ...

The crunchy bass lines of Life To Spare reminds me YES and don't forget the outstanding keyboard solo ( Fred Schendel of GLASS HAMMER)! The song Be Kind has complex arrangements of voices and acoustic guitars.. You hear the classical side of D Project with the song;Find Your Sun part1, followed by The CRIMSONISH's Find Your Sun part2. with a solo section reminds UK.. The grande finale, Be Free offers a 12-string guitar (12 strings-guitar is everywhere on the album) with an emotional voice of Stephane. Bravo guys (and girl)! 4.5 stars

 Find Your Sun by D PROJECT album cover Studio Album, 2018
3.91 | 134 ratings

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Find Your Sun
D Project Neo-Prog

Review by Logana

5 stars After a long period , D Project returns with his 5th album.The line up is Stephane Desbiens(guitar,keyboards,voices), Jean Gosselin (drums), Philippe Desbiens (bass), Isabelle Cormier violon) and Francis Foy ( lyrics). The Find Your Sun album goes in another musical direction compared to the others cds. D Project ,over the years,has managed to developed his own sound . I like the way the songs are built and it offers us a wide variety of styles who is very well assimilated by the band.Maybe it takes several listenings to appreciate all the finest and the colors of the compositions.The strength of this album is to mix very well several influences from the past like Pink Floyd ,King Crimson, UK, Genesis without being a copy. Also you will hear Fred Schendel from Glass Hammer), Maiin from Lazuli and Peter Falconer from Drifting Sun.The enginering was done by Andy Jackson (Pink Floyd) Fav songs; Crude Reality,Tell Me and Be Free

Make you a great Christmas gift with in bonus the beautiful artwork

 Find Your Sun by D PROJECT album cover Studio Album, 2018
3.91 | 134 ratings

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Find Your Sun
D Project Neo-Prog

Review by Toggle

5 stars For this new album D Project asked for the help of Glass Hammer's Fred Schendel on keyboard, Romain Thorel of Lazuli and Peter Falconer of Driftting Sun on vocal. Also Andy Jackson the sound engineer bring that kind of Pink Floyd's sound . As on the previous releases, we hear a lot of influences like Pink Floyd, Genesis and King Crimson, which gives an interesting mix of eclectic but quite successful musical styles. With quiet musical passages and others much more intense, we do not know what to expect with D Project's music and it's perfect like that. What I like is that all these songs have really beautiful melodies (listened to Be Kind and Be Free) with awesome guitars and violins solos ( Tell Me). We also have a various numbers of instruments such as flutes, violins, cello, and saxophone. The album is a bit short (48 minutes ) but no filler. Highly recommended
 Find Your Sun by D PROJECT album cover Studio Album, 2018
3.91 | 134 ratings

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Find Your Sun
D Project Neo-Prog

Review by rdtprog
Special Collaborator Heavy, RPI, Symph, JR/F Canterbury Teams

4 stars The leader, singer, guitarist and keyboard player St'phane Desbiens firstly known for his band Sense decided to move on his own because he wanted more freedom. Sense was becoming a band difficult to keep together with a singer living too far. Since then Stephane has continued to make the same kind of Retro-Prog in his modern way with some big guest musicians from the prog scene. This time he had the help of his son in the bass position and he has kept his longtime relationship with producer Andy Jackson who his an obvious choice for a band that makes music with a Pink Floyd influence. The result is still brilliant with some elaborate arrangements with piano, flute, sax, and violin. However, the music still has that guitar-oriented (acoustic and electric) sound going along this identifiable voice of Stephane. The compositions are never too complex, "Crude Reality" is a fine example with his Genesis intro, his simple chorus to sing along, that gets heavier in his second part. The music is built around strong melodies containing a perfect balance with some delicate, melancholic atmosphere, and heavy passage with a crunchy guitar sometimes reminiscent of King Crimson. This is another good addition to your D-Project collection or your whatever kind of prog you want to call this 50 minutes album that goes so fast.
 Making Sense by D PROJECT album cover Studio Album, 2014
3.91 | 224 ratings

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Making Sense
D Project Neo-Prog

Review by FragileKings
Prog Reviewer

4 stars 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!

 Making Sense by D PROJECT album cover Studio Album, 2014
3.91 | 224 ratings

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Making Sense
D Project Neo-Prog

Review by Windhawk
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars 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.

 Making Sense by D PROJECT album cover Studio Album, 2014
3.91 | 224 ratings

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Making Sense
D Project Neo-Prog

Review by Ru

5 stars The D Project "Making sense";

1-Rearview mirror; reminds me King Crimson with his heavy guitar riff and his mad saxophone?

2- Making Sense; the most "Floydish" (Wish you were here) song of this cd, great melody!

3- What is real; nice drum here with a lot of "tron" and violons

4-No one here is innocent; the most "prog" song of the album. Very good solos!

5- Missing star; symphonics violons parts here and the emotional voice of Sean Filkins is excellent!

6-Spanish castle; great guitar work a la Al Dimeola.

7-Dagger; directly from the "eghties".

8-Out of range; The masterpiece?with flute, cellos, violons,synth, electric and acoustic 12 strings guitars, Rickenbacker bass, just brillant...

Making sense is a very well produced album and it's a must-listen to every "prog" fan! Strongly recommended!

Thanks to ProgLucky for the artist addition. and to NotAProghead for the last updates

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