CHRISTIAAN BRUIN

In recent years, Chris, a conservatory graduate, has grown into a renowned drummer, all-rounder, and producer. At the time of creating the album discussed here, he was still in the middle of his education and it is fair to call him a talent. However, that is rather an understatement; it is better to call him a budding genius.

Christiaan Bruin must have been an easy learner, as he has the absorption capacity of a supple sponge. He also knows how to handle constructive criticism constructively, given the enormous progress he has made compared to his debut album "A Glimpse Inside" from 2009. The music on "Making Sense" sounds much more dynamic and the vocals are rock solid. An important change has been made in the structure of both the songs and the whole album. You can gratefully consume a complexity filled with symphonic delicacies. The Mellotron sounds are frequently present and the rich lead guitar sound reminiscent of Mike Holmes from IQ is often the cherry on top. The sparkling piano playing is also a delight to the ear; in fact, not a single weak theme comes from his pen. Hints of the good from his debut album are also present again, such as the extensive vocal harmonies and Klaatu-like atmospheres complete with pumping rhythms and ragtime-like arrangements. The beauty of Chris is that he doesn't excel in flashy escapades, simply because his beautiful compositions do not need them.

Listening to the album, you feel as if you are in an enchanting parallel universe, at least that's how it feels to me. Rinse your mouth, van der Heijde, "Making Sense" is centered around the earthly concept of the search for your own identity. Ten songs reflect Christiaan Bruin's thoughts on this subject. I'll highlight a few for you.

The first track, Resemblance, sounds somewhat subdued. Gentle piano playing and restrained vocals form the prelude to a strong album. With the following epic Waking From A Dream (the album contains two such tracks clocking over ten minutes), a world opens up for me. A sparkling piano intro followed by driving bass guitar sets the track in motion and as you listen to a melodic guitar line, you are already captivated by the music. Chris knows exactly what effect each note has and thus keeps the attention constantly. A notable moment is the King Crimson-like break where heavy guitar chords and full keyboards overlap in a time signature that would drive many an abacus crazy. When this break occurs for the second time in the track, an aggressive piece of singing follows, which you either love or hate. Waking From A Dream has a beautiful finale where the guitar exhibits unadulterated IQ beauty. With a well-placed fade out, the track fades into eternity. The other epic, Fantasy, is perhaps even more beautiful. The track, opening in Gothic style, features high-pitched vocals and a lot of Genesis-like organ sounds. Again, we hear a beautiful fade out. The album also contains four mid-length tracks that each boast interesting passages. For instance, Shades is built around a catchy 80s keyboard theme, and in Eve Of Destiny, we experience a flashy rhythmic interlude that makes you feel like you're in the Caribbean. The album is essentially a series of strong pieces, even the short tracks turn me into a metaphorical yes-man.

In my opinion, "Making Sense" is a fantastic work that I already nominate for album of the century. Actually, it is completely logical that someone like Christiaan Bruin has made such a brilliant album.

Orginally posted on www.progenrock.com

Largely instrumental double Overture takes its time, clocking at 15 minutes. And sets ... what exactly? I'm not so sure, but at least the tone for this album, which is an eclectic mix of more than a dozen instruments (starting with Gregorian monks-like chanting in the intro, before morphing into the cello part, which in a minute moves onto an instrument (at 2:10, cimbalom perhaps?) which you don't hear often. I can continue forth, but you get the idea. It reminds me of many movie/video games instrumental soundtracks, which I like in general, so there's that.

The rest is more of that, big mix of various influences, for example it reminds me bit of a soft Haken sound without the metal parts in "Fairground" part, but after all, both stories takes place partly in a circus.

I am not that good at understanding what concept albums are about, storywise. I can understand the words, phrases, but poetry was never my strong suit. But even I can understand that the fairytale calm rhythm of the music which lasted until the "A Dot on the Horizon" is gone and the story ends in ... cliffhanger perhaps? To be continued on the second disc?

Waltz (or -like) rhythms ("Beneath the Surface", but elsewhere too) help to set the mood too. With the first tones of "Flight of Columbo", the thing that was on my mind was "cheesy", but ti turns somewhat better. Adventurous would be better description perhaps.

At times, personified by my example of "House Behind the Hedge" would, musically, remind me Tim Bowness (especially Schoolyard Ghosts release) or even Steven Wilson from his projects.

And it continues thorough the 95 minutes, taking inspirations here and there, pushing together its narrative (which I don't understand, but that's fine, it still feels good).

Though some could also say that large swathes of some tracks sounds like a PG-13 version of Dracula (using "eastern" like music instruments). You decide, though for me it works both ways. 3.5***, so rounded up.

It is eclectic, bombastic and very cinematic in ways which at times do remind me of Karda Estra, but far more songs based, and it must be said both commercial and somewhat heavier at times. It is an album which has a great deal of space contained within it which even frenetic Palmer-style drumming does little to hide. It is probably the drumming which makes this album so very different to Oldfield, allowing what can be quite simple melodies be sat against complex rhythms, and vice versa. This was sent out as an EP, but it is still well in excess of fifty minutes long, so hate to think what they consider a full-length release to be.

'Logica' is fairly one-dimensional in some ways, and it is this which stops it from being a great album, but as it is, it is still one I have really enjoyed playing, and I am intrigued to hear more of his work.

Although this record was my first encounter with the aforementioned musician, initially I found myself captivated by the inspiring, symphonic sound reminiscent of a soundtrack to a magical film. "Inventions: Logica" blends together the well-crafted (even if at times repetitive) melodies from the string quartet, saxes, and flutes with the smooth, warm, comforting vocals, and a cracking, distorted narration. This is true for nearly every piece on this album: all of them maintain the same style, at times repeating similar musical themes. As such, this record can be plausibly called a conceptual one. At times, rock elements, such as the guitars in the titular track or in "Mind of God" enter. The song lyrics and narration mention philosophy, humanities, and even mathematics, in an attempt to complete the atmosphere of inspirational grandeur already established by the sound. Unfortunately, this might be a choice that ends up making this album too easy to see as pretentious or pseudo-intellectual. In addition, at repeated listens the record ceases to sound original, coming close rather to a wannabe (and not succeeding) successor to Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells", while the monotony of some musical ideas and the vocals become tiring if used for any other purpose than background music. This is a pity, considering how interesting the initial idea is: it seems as if Christiaan Bruin ended up both overdoing (in terms of the grandeur/epicness) and underdoing (in terms of variety) it on "Inventions: Logica".

It's probably a good idea to give this album one or two listens: but not more than that, unless you're fine with the risk of losing that good first impression. "Inventions: Logica" remains a piece of pleasant film-like music with intellectual lyrics and a beautiful cubist album artwork, but unfortunately, not much more than that. 2.75 stars, rounded up.

This was another very strong album by Chris, even if you feel already from the start his tendency to throw in some poppier and more conventional acts in his music.The thing is that Bruin works mostly as a drummer, but most of the album's drumming appears to be sampled, delivering robotic beats, which is not what you expect from a drummer.But he appears to be a great multi-instrumentalist and composer at the same time, you can still find these light Mellotron/electric-acoustic piano washes and vintage touches in his music, the overall result though being a modernized Prog/Art Rock album with electronic samplers standing next to the natural instruments.At this point his work has more to do with bands/artists like FISH ON FRIDAY, JOHNNY UNICORN or ACTIVE HEED than to say SPOCK'S BEARD or IZZ.While the irritating vocals and digital sounds are a matter of discussion, the compositions are still intricate and varied with multiple themes and tonal changes, offering acoustic textures, sharper guitar/keyboard edges, symphonic textures and plenty of Art Pop.And there is an amazing ability by this young man to place some epic instrumental ideas next to his more accesible ideas.Six tracks are contained in the album and three of them are longer than 8 minutes, but the most enganging piece is the romantic/dramatic ''Stars align'', excellent stuff indeed.

Remember, this guy was only 24 years old at the time and he had already produced three very good solo efforts.''City of light'' doesn't sit at the top of the list, but it's a nice mix of progressive grandieur and poppy quirikness with plenty of memorable tunes and striking melodies.Recommended.

Chris seems to be the king of beautiful art, enticing track titles, and just an overall feel of quality. "Days of Summer Gone" is no different, as the art is the aspect that convinced me to give his music another go. As I got deeper into the album, his concept of using mostly acoustic instruments for this album really presented itself well and it was addictive, to say the least.

But what can one do with all acoustic instruments, ranging from the standard fare to cellos, trombones, flutes, and so on? Chris has created an album of intimate orchestration; an album that begs the listener to come a little closer. He paints what literally seem to be tapestries of folksy music, except the folksiness is often American in sound, and not just the wonderful European style. Indeed, as an American, I get "Americana" in this album, for better or worse. But not the loud, boisterous America that I know the world detests: No, I hear the quiet, snow-laden country America, complete with dark, starry skies and a good bit of whimsy and fantasy.

Indeed, "Days of Summer Gone" is a grand, fantastical opus of perfect melodies, quiet moments, and plenty of space and time between notes in order to reach heaven. Truly, the wondrous melodies, driven by flutes and oboes, crest rolling hills and soar into dark night skies. They will weave a tangled web within your mind, and you will be humming them for months. Yes, hum-worthy melodies!

My two favorite tracks (difficult to choose, though) are "Cold Night" and "A Heart's Endeavor". The former feels exactly that: cold. It weaves in and around and over your mind, but the lyrics are sad and desperate. The latter feels urgent and flowing, caught in a river of emotion. Yet, though these are my favorites, there are high points in every track that make this album feel like one complete work that was written in a single setting. While I doubt it was, it really feels that way, as if Chris had an epiphany. Honestly, his vocals were my least favorite part of the album at first, but their subtlety has really grown on me, too.

If this had released in 2014, it would be my album of the year. As it stands, Chris' "Days of Summer Gone" is an album of emotional, melodic musings; an album that plays wistfully with your heart and with the corridors of your artistic mind. It will ever be on the corners of your brain, I promise you. Buy it. You won't regret it.

This was another solid release by the young Dutch, showing full respect for the 70's and transforming the sound into the modern era, recalling the works of SPOCK'S BEARD, MAGIC PIE and BEARDFISH, incorporating poppy sensibilities into symphonic arrangements and coloring the style with heavier overtones akin to his own SKY ARCHITECT project.Once more the mix of multiple voices and instruments is absolutely brilliant and Chris' multi-instrumental talents are more than satisfying.Musically ''Making sense'' appears to be an efficient concept work, divided in mini-epics and shorter tracks with an evident sense of melody but also enough complexity to convince die-hard Prog fans.The music passes from emotional lines and accesible tunes to big symphonic themes and grandiose instrumentals, featuring lots of synthesizers as well as some old-styled organ and Mellotron.THE BEATLES appear to be an obvious influence during the vocal parts, but the music is rooted in the style of RUSH, YES and GENESIS with dramatic sections, pompous orchestrations and shifting climates.Chris avoids any kind of laid-back ballad-like stuff and the acoustic passages are also very limited, insisting in a dynamic electric sound with his proposal being deeply rooted in the principles of Classic Progressive Rock, while the heavy guitars add a welcome dimension in the well-crafted keyboard moves.

Another one-man beauty by this great Dutch talent.Dramatic, modern Neo/Symphonic Prog with accomplished executions and filled with interesting arrangements.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

It is a beautiful album and aside from the comparisons I have made with other bands Chris has managed to put together some really good ideas and melodies; I enjoyed a lot his decision of including a Cellist and other musicians as they give the album more freshness.

As for the theatrical style I must admit that the "dramatic" climax of the album contains an interesting blend of nuances.

For some reason the vocals can not match the quality of the music; I think that the addition of a singer in the future that could blend better with this orchestral variety will definitely make Chris music reach a even superior level.

The essentiality of this album depends on how appealing the vocals feels to you, I definitely recommend listening to the album since it contains great moments that make it worth all the while.

Recommended!

Another example would be the drums. It sounds more like a drum machine or something. Just like the rest of the album, they don't sound organic or even real. This really bothers me for some reason. Overall, there are some nice synth solos, and some catchy melodies, but that's about it. Everything else sounds cheap.