Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography

DAYMOON

Crossover Prog • Portugal


From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Daymoon picture
Daymoon biography
Founded in Sintra, Portugal in 1984 (as "Dead Landscape")

Led by Fred LESSING, DAYMOON started out in the early 80s as a Portuguese prog band called Dead Landscape, but the band quit after a few years of battling against the mainstream. While all other band members moved into more commercial music, Fred Lessing kept on making prog and recorded three solo albums under the moniker DAYMOON. Unfortunately, none of these albums ever reached a finished stage.

2009 finally saw a proper band emerging, and DAYMOON began performing live. In 2012, Russian label Mals released the band's first album, All Tomorrows, a collection of love songs for Fred's wife; the album was post-produced by and features Andy TILLISON of The Tangent and PO90. This will was followed by a musical history of the universe, "Fabric Of Space Divine" in 2013, and then "Cruz Quebrada" in 2016 on their new label from Germany, Progressive Promotion Records.

This latest album speaks of the dark times the band's mentor went through after his wife died of cancer in 2012, and all proceeds of the album go to pan-European cancer fighters Europacolon.

The band is currently working on the next album, with the working title "Bible of Dreams", which will be mostly if not entirely instrumental, and is making plans for a rock opera called "The Currrybears".

: : : Fred Lessing, Portugal : : :

DAYMOON Videos (YouTube and more)


Showing only random 3 | Search and add more videos to DAYMOON

Buy DAYMOON Music


DAYMOON discography


Ordered by release date | Showing ratings (top albums) | Help Progarchives.com to complete the discography and add albums

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

3.42 | 33 ratings
All Tomorrows
2011
3.49 | 18 ratings
Fabric of Space Divine
2013
3.83 | 18 ratings
Cruz Quebrada
2016
3.62 | 11 ratings
Erosion
2022

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

DAYMOON Videos (DVD, Blu-ray, VHS etc)

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

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

3.04 | 8 ratings
Chronicles
2002

DAYMOON Reviews


Showing last 10 reviews only
 Erosion by DAYMOON album cover Studio Album, 2022
3.62 | 11 ratings

BUY
Erosion
Daymoon Crossover Prog

Review by nick_h_nz
Collaborator Prog Metal / Heavy Prog Team

4 stars [Originally published at The Progressive Aspect]

Erosion is the third release in a triptych from Fred Lessing. Except it isn't. Or maybe it is? Honestly, I don't know if it were intended to be, but regardless of intentions, I believe Fred has created that triptych, as the three albums that make it up are all indebted to his first wife, Inês - albeit in different ways. Inês is the thread that runs through All Tomorrows, Cruz Quebrada, and now Erosion. While Erosion is ostensibly a far more global and political album than its predecessors, it remains also a very personal one at times. Indeed, it begins with a very tender and touching lyric,

"The thyme on your grave is long gone,

Eight journeys around our sun,

The world has grown darker, I'm glad you're not here

For all that you fought for will soon disappear."

And, honestly, I did a double take when I first heard this. If I didn't know it were Daymoon, I would think it were a different band. The Forest Without Us sounds very little like anything Daymoon have played before. At least, not for the first two or three minutes. The beautiful and tender instrumentation soon brings me back into more familiar territory. It's a brave choice of opening number, as it is such an understated and atmospheric song, ethereal and ephemeral ? flickering with life like the thirty-two thousand fireflies of the lyric. As the vocals end, the music takes a darker turn. The quiet and calm is lost amongst a wash of insistent noise of modern life. The Forest may be without us, but the woodwinds are definitely with us, and Paulo Chagas provides a discordant and disturbing squall that is perfectly accompanies and mirrors the chaos of the background sound effects.

Paulo provides many of my favourite moments throughout the album, eliciting a visceral response with his sometimes unconventional playing of a range of woodwind instruments, including recorders, clarinets, saxophones, oboe, and flute. Fred also plays a range of woodwinds, and unfortunately the credits for the album aren't always helpful in working out just what is being played (often simply stating "woodwinds" or "percussion" or "stringed instruments"). I'm sure more educated ears than mine could identify what is what, but I quite like not always knowing just what is being played at times, as it adds to the magic and mystery of the music. And so much of the music is magical and mysterious, throwing up surprises and curveballs.

As a prime example, the following Pardon the Turkey is a joyous cacophony of sounds and styles, cut up with sound bites and biting lyrics full of sarcasm and irony. The music jolts unpredictably between jaunty, light and airy passages, and heavy, dark and menacing. This is definitely more what I was expecting from Daymoon, and it goes without saying that I love it. I came to Daymoon because I loved the Project Creation of Hugo Flores, on which Fred Lessing (and also Paulo Chagas) played a part. If you read reviews of Project Creation, they are often critical of how it is all too much all at once. In fact it was the negative reviews that sold it to me and made me want to give it a listen, because all that was being criticised sounded quite wonderful to me. Pardon the Turkey sounds like members of Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, Henry Cow and Pink Floyd joined together to make a metal album. It is exquisitely over the top in every way.

The Forest Within Us is a near-instrumental comedown, with particular highlights from the kalimba (played by André Marques) and trumpet (from Luca Calabrese), sounding like jazz noir from the heart of Africa, although we are swiftly moved to the border of Asia and Europe via the Trans Aegean Express ? from the sounds of it, coming from a war torn East, and travelling with hope to the West. Unfortunately, these refugees are likely to encounter the endemic ugliness expressed already in Pardon the Turkey, and systemic ugliness yet to be expressed in The Pyre. While these migrants may struggle to find a home, the fusion of sounds and instruments from around the world is once again wonderfully arranged. Nothing sounds out of place, even when it occurs somewhere that one would not expect it. This is where Fred Lessing excels, as throughout Daymoon's recordings, he has consistently been able to bring together what might seem disparate elements, and make them sound like natural companions. The different sounds might crash together, but they do not clash.

Sometimes, however, a clash is not simply inevitable, but necessary. The Pyre reminds us that erosion is not necessarily just an environmental issue. While the Earth is being eroded, so is humanity. Our rights and status as people are being eroded globally, whether that be the UK sleepwalking into an authoritarian state, or the US overturning Roe vs Wade, or any other example you care to think of. If we don't rise up when he have a chance, we might lose that chance for good. Followed up by Joyeous Oh Joyeous!, Daymoon do not exactly offer a happy ending. A subverted Symphony no. 9 in D minor is less an ode to joy, than a dissociative fugue state. But if that's disturbing, it's still nowhere as scary as the following Back Home, the lyric of which one can certainly still see reflected in a certain proportion of the population of the UK.

Overall, this is a magnificent addition to the Daymoon canon, but for all its similarities, it has some rather striking differences. While it still retains the eclectic nature of the previous albums, it is in a more subtle and restrained manner. In fact, a lot of Erosion comes across as quite restrained and understated, compared to All Tomorrows and Cruz Quebrada. This sense is furthered by the vocals of Lavinia Roseiro, who has a more conventional style than the idiosyncrasies of Fred's. A lot of the rawness and edginess of Daymoon has been lost here, but perhaps that is appropriate, just as continued erosion can polish a surface. Initally, I found that meant that I enjoyed Erosion less than its predecessors, but continued listening has seen it erode my defences, and I now find it not only my favourite Daymoon release, but one of my favourite albums of 2022.

 Erosion by DAYMOON album cover Studio Album, 2022
3.62 | 11 ratings

BUY
Erosion
Daymoon Crossover Prog

Review by DamoXt7942
Forum & Site Admin Group Avant/Cross/Neo/Post Teams

4 stars This "Erosion" was released in February 2022 as the fourth full-length creation by a Portuguese project DAYMOON. Sadly under such a tough situation like the pandemic, I guess it was so difficult to go forward with their recording or production well, but I got very happy to listen to this album full of eclectic, diverse music essence and incredible massive passion, maybe due to Fred's multi-coloured life and experiences. Every track involves not so complicated but amazing developments here and there, that are attached and stabilized with various instruments, especially Lavinia's clean transparent voices and tricky, mysterious but supra-comfortable wind sections. The creation itself is not too heavy nor difficult to be accepted but is fascinatingly designated on composition.

The first "The Forest Without Us" is pretty suitable as the starter. Beautiful guitar plays, mystic recorder streams, are impressive and courageous. The latter phase sounds more of chaos like our concern for the future. They would play straightly on behalf of the audience. Ethnic flavour also heard via the following "Pardon The Turkey" is charming and tempting too. "The Forest Within Us" is one of my favourite songs in this album. Not sure what "Genomics for beginners" means but such a wondrous simplicity, sweet relieving flavour like lavender, grabs our heart strictly out. Luca's trumpet and André's percussion are also flexible and enchanting for us.

"The Pyre" is a bit deep and depressive especially in the former part, just like clearcut sound-oriented tensions like Rush or Ningen-Isu, but it's another good point they CANNOT be desperate nor hopeless. In "Fjoyd" we can much enjoy beautiful, delicate keyboard accesses into our inner brain. The last "Melas Chasma" sounds like another hopeful milestone. Quite sensitive and sincere texture relaxes the audience. Although we cannot see any clear hope currently under the situation, the brilliant time will come soon ... It makes sense that we can believe. Yes, regardless of challenging circumstances, we keep our hope and motivation to advance, by listening to such a fantastic album and drinking Portuguese wine. ;)

 Erosion by DAYMOON album cover Studio Album, 2022
3.62 | 11 ratings

BUY
Erosion
Daymoon Crossover Prog

Review by kev rowland
Special Collaborator Honorary Reviewer

3 stars It has been six years since the release of Daymoon's third album, 'Cruz Quebrada' (which I haven't heard), and we have to go back to 2013 for the release of their second album, 'Fabric of Space Divine' which I was very impressed with indeed. They are indicated as crossover prog on PA, but that is in its truest sense in that they cross over multiple genres but the one which they most relate to with this release is eclectic. This is the first album where it is much more of a band as opposed to multi-instrumentalist Fred Lessing, an inner core of musicians, and an outer cast of many as Fred has now created a different version of the band and it will be interesting to see how they progress. André Marques (keyboards, drums and percussion, tuned percussion, vocals, stringed and ethnic instruments) has been involved since the second album as part of the inner core, but the others have either had minor parts or are here for the first time. This includes new lead singer, Lavínia Roseiro, which is quite a switch as previously the band have had male vocalists. The line-up is completed by Thomas Olsson (electric guitar, keyboards), who is also executive producer for Isuldurs Bane, Luca Calabrese (trumpet ? also in Isuldurs Bane) and Paulo Chagas (tenor recorder, oboe, alt recorder, fujara, flute, sopranino and bass clarinets).

Lavinia is a stage and TV actress, and she uses these skills in ways which have more in common with Clive Nolan's theatrical works than "standard" prog, often taking the band into areas of art rock, while they switch and move in different manners so one never knows what is going to happen. With a trumpet being a main instrument, we get very different timbres and styles than one normally experiences within the genre, and when placed against a xylophone as on "The Forest Within Us" one is no longer in the world of prog (in one sense, but very much so in another), and one no longer understands the path we are on. Some paths are straight, others wind, and even others split in multiple different possibilities, but this one is fractured and is more like steppingstones than a continual journey and therefore the route is going to be a difficult one, but worth the effort all the same. We shift between jazz, artrock, Zappa-esque prog and so much more, never knowing what is coming in the next bar, let alone the next song.

This album is deep, yet at times lighthearted and playful, but the disparate nature of it is deliberate as it relates deeply to the lyrics, and together they combine to place the world we live in under a microscope. This is not an easy album to listen to, even though its component pieces may be more palatable individually, yet it need to be ingested as a whole as it is only then that its deep meaning and hidden beauty shine through.

 Erosion by DAYMOON album cover Studio Album, 2022
3.62 | 11 ratings

BUY
Erosion
Daymoon Crossover Prog

Review by Steve Conrad

3 stars One May Not Awaken

Not from THIS nightmare.

Portuguese band DAYMOON returns with their latest release "Erosion", and we may be certain- there is in fact erosion!

Erosion of trust. Of morals. Of certainty. Of hope. Of kindness and compassion and oneness.

Composer/multi-instrumentalist Fred Lessing & company stage a nightmarish scenario from which one may not awaken...

Because it's happening around us and within us too.

DAYMOON utilizes a multitude of instruments, summoning demons, Nazis, forest sprites, and sundry terrors with spoken word, evocatively and passionately sung melodies that evolve, then devolve into increasingly nightmarish hellscapes.

Hellscapes We Inhabit

Hellscapes we've helped to shape, through utter bloody indifference, intolerance, willingness to be herded and chastened and managed.

Through the blandishments of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram- along with all the other (anti)social media. It so happens I just have been mulling over an article about this very subject. The author describes how (anti)social media perpetuates stupidity, greed, and rage over perceived slights and insults.

We're Living This Nightmare

And DAYMOON ain't so sure we can make it through.

We hear insane clown posse's marching and shouting and fulminating- the highly paid, intensely worshipped and idolized madmen and women, all insisting we march to their beat, and drawn in dark, brooding, 'funhouse' tones, usually drifting inexorably into atonality and discord.

Harrowing

Oh dear god how harrowing. We realize as we listen, as we work- yes work!- to follow, to make sense of, that we are held in thrall against our will to this madness. The music forces us, if we do carefully attend to it, to reckon, to fully reckon with what we- collectively- have wrought, evolved and devolved, and have become, perhaps like the frog in the slowly heating water tolerates, then is incinerated, in slow, deathly fashion.

So Fred. Fellow Musicians. DAYMOON:

Ouch! And Thank You!

Like the slap in that old commercial, "Thanks! I needed that!" (But damn, it's a bitter pill to swallow.)

My rating: 3.5 bitter pills. It's better than "good", yet I doubt many progressive rock collectors will consider it an excellent addition to their collection.

 Cruz Quebrada by DAYMOON album cover Studio Album, 2016
3.83 | 18 ratings

BUY
Cruz Quebrada
Daymoon Crossover Prog

Review by ProgShine
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars If you follow my reviews you should know the name Daymoon. This is a Portuguese project led by Fred Lessing. The project started out after Fred, that played in the yearly 80's in some Prog bands, organised a home studio and started to record his ideas in late 90's. Only in 2009 Fred started to record a proper debut album and now we have the third full length of the band, Cruz Quebrada (Broken Cross), released by Progressive promotion Records earlier this year.

But before going any further or even talk about the music the CD contains, we have to address what this album is about.

Cruz Quebrada is a concept album that Fred put together, painstakingly, after his wife's death in 2012. The album basically deals with what Lessing had to go through and his state of mind during this hard period of his life. On top of that, all artist's proceeds go to cancer fighters Europacolon.

The album is divided into two parts "Out" (the first half) and "In" (the second half). The "Out" part was written shortly before his wife's death and also shortly after. And as you should expect after reading about how the album came to be, Cruz Quebrada has a fair bit of darker moments, especially in the first half, including many cacophonic moments ('Cruz Quebrada', 'Fish Dissected', 'Shipwreck' and 'Whalebone'), but it also has some melancholic 'pondering' moments ('Where It Hurts Most', 'Whalebone' and the beautiful 'Thyme').

The second half ("In") comprises the suite 'The River', it was divided into 9 tracks but it's really one long suite of over 25 minutes. This part was written later on, between 2014 and 2015, and it's more uplifting, still confusing, but more 'open'.

Cruz Quebrada gathers Fred Lessing (vocals, bass, guitar, harp, flute, keyboards, percussion), André Marques (drums, keyboards, bass, guitar, recording, vocals), Bruno Evangelista (vocals) and Adriano Pereira (clarinet) as the main band, just as in their previous album Fabric Of Space Divine (2013).

I will not lie, it's very hard to listen the whole 71 minutes of Cruz Quebrada, not because the music is bad, it's the very contrary, the music is great! But it is very heavy, it is very dense, and it's one of those albums that you have to sit and really listen, otherswise it doesn't make much sense for you to even try. Cruz Quebrada is rich, so rich that is even impossible to pinpoint what style of Prog Rock Daymoon plays.

All in all, if you like the kind of music that challenges you and drags you into the record, Cruz Quebrada is just for you, and honestly, it's worth it!

 Cruz Quebrada by DAYMOON album cover Studio Album, 2016
3.83 | 18 ratings

BUY
Cruz Quebrada
Daymoon Crossover Prog

Review by DamoXt7942
Forum & Site Admin Group Avant/Cross/Neo/Post Teams

4 stars DAYMOON's creation "Cruz Quebrada" released in 2016 can be called as another treasure casket for innovative imagination. It's quite a tough work for us to classify this album into a subgenre because of a obvious musical diversity upon the sound world ... psychedelic, avantgarde, jazz rock, crossover to pop ... what a variation in Fred's inner space. Very splendid lots of heartwarming moments can be heard even whilst minor key melody lines like reminders of serious pressure are launched.

Without any suspicion I cannot help feeling this multiplicity over musical genres should be Daymoon's brilliant mindscape itself. We can hear a tragic movement at a point, a pleasant vibe at another, or something like mental anguish ... such an aggregation of crying heart can be touched via the masterpiece suite "The River" full of unsettled mind between life and death, and this phenomenon would make us consider unavoidable events of life.

Quite sensitive and fragile mind whisper can be heard amongst massively various rock elements. Wondering why it be hard to digest this album comprehensively ... guess there might be a mass of Fred's "humanity" in my humble opinion, and this might be the reason we cannot digest his melodic message easily but directly absorb it without ourselves. Fred's strong intention for "humanity" is there, not simple nor easy to understand, that would amaze us apparently. Yes apparently I love this stuff.

 Cruz Quebrada by DAYMOON album cover Studio Album, 2016
3.83 | 18 ratings

BUY
Cruz Quebrada
Daymoon Crossover Prog

Review by Windhawk
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Portuguese project DAYMOON is the creative vehicle of composer and musician Fred Lessing. He has been creating material for well over a quarter of a century, but didn't choose to start releasing any of it until 2011. "Cruz Quebrada" is the third studio album to be issued under the Daymoon moniker, and was released through the German label Progressive Promotion Records in the spring of 2016.

Daymoon's third studio album "Cruz Quebrada" comes across as an emotionally laden production, at times harrowingly so, to the extent that the raw undercurrents of emotion manages to overcome slightly weaker aspects in terms of structure and cohesion, mix and production as well as the lead vocals. Those who tend to enjoy bands that explore similar territories to what Pink Floyd did in the mid to late 70's appear as a key audience for this album, and then especially those who enjoy folk music details, a select few pastoral sequences and occasional chaotic, dramatic instrument effects, used to expand these boundaries.

 Fabric of Space Divine by DAYMOON album cover Studio Album, 2013
3.49 | 18 ratings

BUY
Fabric of Space Divine
Daymoon Crossover Prog

Review by memowakeman
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars Review originally posted at www.therocktologist.com

A very good album by this Portuguese project!

After having enjoyed their "All Tomorrows" album a couple of years ago, Daymoon, led by Fred Lessing appeared once again on my listening charts with their enigmatic "Fabric of Space Divine", a challenging album that can fill any prog-head ears with great and diverse music. This album, released in the first half of this year is a great salad of rhythms, sounds and textures, all made by a vast quantity of musicians invited to this project. So if you want something fresh and varied, take one hour of your time and enjoy the 16 episodes this album offers.

Since the very first track we can hear a lot of sounds and instruments, "Singularity to Sol" is a cool introduction that contains elements that would make one think this band is very eclectic, and they are, the variety of sounds and rhythms speak alone. Immediately after the introduction comes the longest track of the album, "Seed of Complexity" showing that Daymoon are really a band to have on the radar, because of the quality of composition and their great execution. I love the changes in this song and in the album overall, one don't see the change coming and they all of a sudden surprise us. I love the work of keyboards and flute, and of course guitar. Great progressive rock, not strictly in the classic vein, just for your information.

"Evolution" is the first o various short instrumental interludes, that work as transition of the music, and of the story, because your imagination works while listening to it, one can see things and create our own history. I love the intensity of this track and how it vanishes just to open the gates to "Beyond Nature", which softly starts with keyboards that produce spacey atmospheres, later they use like mid-east sounds and add vocals that together produce in moments a tense ambient. "Beyond Trinity" has highs and lows, because I love its soft beginning with flute, but later when acoustic guitar, vocals and piano enter, the song becomes pretty catchy and a bit emotional, with a calm sound that does not really attract me. Not that bad, but I would skip this in spite of the nice lyrics and its great ending.

"Anthropocentrics" has a 360° spin, the music is completely different here, and I love it. I love the delicious saxophone that leads this instrumental piece, but also the work of constant drums and bass lines. But well, with Beyond Multiplicity the music changes drastically once again, which is one of the charms of this album. The music is a bit scary, again with some oriental touches that will put you on the Mid-East map. "Beyond Good and Evil" has some winds playing while a voice is speaking farther; after 30 seconds acoustic guitar starts playing and creates some enjoyable and repetitive notes that later are accompanied by bass and drums, something ala Gentle Giant. Later the song simply flows and offers and exquisite variety of sounds that to be honest, I lost the first time I listened to it, I mean, I thought it didn't lead anywhere, but I was wrong.

"Penetrate" has again a kind of catchy sound, I think I am not the most eager fan of the vocals provided here, they are nice and delicate, but after all I just prefer the instrumental passages. "Ice Prospector" has a nice blend of rock and roll and latinamerican music, the combination is nice and reminds me of several 70s acts. The song itself is not my favorite at all, but what I love from the album is that Daymoon took risks and offer diverse rhytms and styles. In "Digital" the music fades while some crickets sing in the back; later a change comes and fore and backing vocals appear and let us know that they are human, but digital.

One of my favorite tracks is "Beyond", I love its sweetness and the peace it transmits; this is an electronic-oriented track, but I love the textures and nuances created by synths. "Grasping the Fabric" offer again a salad of sounds and mood changes in spite of its short length. "Twisting the Fabric" has a darker sound, more chaotic and interesting. The sax is present here once again, adding that special touch, while drums work perfectly with its rhythms, creating both a cool harmony. "Beyond Zero Kelvin" announces the end of the journey, while the chaotic "One" finishes.

This is a very good album, I love its complexity and how they dare to create such a piece like this, however, as much as I've tried, it is far from being one of my favorite albums, actually I hardly remember two or three tracks here, I mean, despite it is great, it lacks connection with me, so I cannot say I love it. My final grade will be 3 stars.

Enjoy it!

 Fabric of Space Divine by DAYMOON album cover Studio Album, 2013
3.49 | 18 ratings

BUY
Fabric of Space Divine
Daymoon Crossover Prog

Review by ProgShine
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

4 stars Last week I reviewed the first proper album by Daymoon, All Tomorrows (2011) (read it here: progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=1057553), and I found the band quite interesting, but the album was lacking some unity. So it's high time to review their most recent album Fabric Of Space Divine (2013).

Fabric Of Space Divine (2013) is a concept and intricate album about Evolution, the Space evolution, and consequently human evolution. The album, was released by the Russian label MALS earlier this year, but had been written and recorded since 2000.

Fabric Of Space Divine (2013) is divided into 3 parts and 16 tracks. The album begins with the first part called 'Complexity' that's divided into 3 songs: 'Singularity To Sol', 'Seed Of Complexity' and 'Evolution'. This beginning is the base of the album and explains how the Universe began and evolved in its prime days.

Once again Daymoon has a great booklet with thousands of information that enables you to follow the songs and every step of the story.

The second part 'Explanations' comes with the challenge of elaborating on the human being evolution and its beliefs (especially religions). This second part is divided into 5 more tracks: 'Beyond Nature', 'Beyond Trinity', 'Anthropocentrics', 'Beyond Multiplicity' and 'Beyond Good And Evil'.

Fabric Of Space Divine (2013) took 12 years to be finished and what should be impossible was achieved, the album has unity! Their previous album All Tomorrows (2011) looked a bit as a patchwork, Fabric Of Space Divine (2013) is more concise and complete.

The third and last part is called 'Expansion' and it includes 8 tracks: 'Middle', 'Ice Prospector', 'Digital', 'Beyond', 'Grasping The Fabric', 'Twisting The Fabric', 'Beyond Zero Kelvin' and 'One'. In this last bit of the album the science fiction begins. As Fred Lessing said himself in the booklet: "much of it, if not all, will prove to be humbug eventually". Or not!

In terms of concept Fabric Of Space Divine (2013) is one of the most interesting albums I've seen in years. It's complex, structured, full of good ideas and well written. When it comes to the music the album has everything you could imagine. From acoustic ballads to Gentle Giant influence, passing through Arab music and a bit of electronic too. But because the album was recorded through a spam of long 12 years you can obviously spot some 'older sounds' in some songs, but that doesn't make the album go down, not a single bit.

Fred Lessing was able to conceive one of the most interesting and complex albums of the year. And he's also becoming one of the more interesting musicians on the Prog scene.

Sit back, headphones on, booklet in your hands and just embark on this great adventure through time and space, literally, with Daymoon!

(Originally posted on progshine.net)

 All Tomorrows by DAYMOON album cover Studio Album, 2011
3.42 | 33 ratings

BUY
All Tomorrows
Daymoon Crossover Prog

Review by ProgShine
Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

3 stars Daymoon is a Portuguese project led by Fred Lessing. The project started out after Fred, that played in the yearly 80's in some Prog bands, organised a decent home studio and started to record his ideas in late 90's and recorded 3 demos like that. Only in 2009 Fred started to record a proper debut album for Daymoon All Tomorrows (2011) was then released as a digital download and later on it was released by the Russian label MALS in a CD form.

MALS is a label that we overlook very often. Being a Russian label and having their native country as their main focus, sometimes we don't really get their releases, however, they have a huge catalog with many excellent albums.

All Tomorrows (2011) was co-produced , mixed and mastered by Andy Tillinson (The Tangent, PO90). He also plays on a couple of tracks on the album.

'All Tomorrows' is the first track and has nice vocals by Hugo Flores. In the follow up, the instrumental 'TrancendenZ' we have many interesting parts and twists. But it is the third track, 'Human Again' that really caught our attention with its Mike Oldfield kind of sound. I have to mention here Luís bass line, amazing bass sound on this track! Fred Lessing sings on this particular track (as in a few others) and it's quite a good vocal line, but what I like most is the unconventional way that the song follows.

'Marrakech' sounds a bit 'demo' for my taste and 'Sorry' follows the same path, but the second one has interesting passages that had the helping hand of members of the band Isildur's Bane. 'Bell Jar' has a very nice beginning and great vocals by Mark Lee Fletcher, but the electronic input that Andy Tillinson gave to the song pretty much kills it for me. 'First Rain' has a great acoustic intro and good vocals by Hugo Flores. A very good track with a pastoral feeling. 'Arklow' is a smaller track (in terms of quality) in my opinion and 'News From The Outside' has direct influence from Pink Floyd with very good vocals, once again, by Mark Lee Fletcher.

The final track from All Tomorrows (2011) is 'The Sum', the longest track on the album with 13'45. Its intro is pure Gentle Giant and has a lot of influence from the Italian bands too, especially because of the saxophones . 'The Sum' has many different parts and it's the certainly the best track on the album for me.

One thing I liked about All Tomorrows (2011) is the fact that every song has a small text explaining every song. I have always liked this detail on booklets of cds.

All Tomorrows (2011) is a good first album but it feels as a patchwork in many moments. Maybe the recordings, maybe the production, not really sure what's the reason that made me feel like that with this particular album. But Daymoon has good compositions, which is the main thing in the business. That's why I'm eager to soon review their next album Fabric Of Space Divine (2013) that I already have here with me!

3.5 stars if I could.

(Originally posted on progshine.net)

Thanks to windhawk for the artist addition. and to Quinino for the last updates

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.