HORIZON

Backyards is the moniker used by French keyboardist Marc Devidal.He was one of the original Morrigan along with singer Merlin, but he left the band in 1996 without participating in any of the group's official albums.Some 15 years later Devidal makes a surprising comeback with a solo album entitled ''Horizon'' under the Backyards nickname, released in 2011 on Musea Parallèle.Devidal plays all keyboards and programmed instruments in this work.

His album draws significant comparisons with the debut of NETHERLAND DWARF.So this is a one man project, where a talented and accomplished musician performs a keyboard-based Progressive Rock with programmed drums, which ranges from haunting symphonic parts to Neo-related melodies and from groovy passages to sharp Electronic soundscapes.Devidal's music, although quite one-dimensional, remains attractive, energetic and dynamic all the way with even dual and triple keyboard attacks, featuring organs and synthesizers and flirting dangerously with Electronic Music at moments.His overall approach though is still grounded in keyboard-led Progressive Rock with the edgy synthesizer solos bringing to mind Neo Prog acts in the vein of early QUASAR or PROTOS, that is a somewhat symph-oriented synth-driven Neo Prog, while the drum programming sounds cool despite its mechanical color.However Devidal's ability to produce some powerful,spacey and cosmic atmospheres seems his strongest point.A couple of more Synth-Pop tracks towards the end are also ok, but far from the album's overall approach.

Good album for a mass of listeners.Fans of keyboard-led Symphonic/Neo Prog as well as fans of powerful Space/Electronic Rock are the ones who will appreciate it more.Recommended.