EN CE JOUR ET POUR TOUJOURS

Canadian musician Daniel Gauthier, born in 1959 in Senneterre, Quebec, showed his love for Progressive Rock music already from the early stages of his life, being a member of local bands playing both original and covers' material.By mid-90's Gauthier had built his own small recording studio, but economical difficulties were always there.However he managed to launch his first personal album ''En ce jour et pour toujours'' in 1997, helped only by drummer and former bandmate Richard Bergeron, the vocals and the rest of the instrumentation were all Gauthier responisibilities.

The album shows a man with talent, trying hard to come up with some smooth, modern Symphonic/Neo Prog with light Electronic touches, where PINK FLOYD, MARILLION and GENESIS influences are more than obvious.The result is very secure Progressive Rock with well-crafted compositions and a Neo Prog attitude, where production, vocals and some dead holes are definitely a serious issue.There is a certain difficulty by Gauthier to deliver strong instrumental moments, the arrangements are quite mellow with plenty of vocals and some nice symphonic soundscapes, but the overall performance is rather inconsistent and at moments too one-dimensional.Speaking of vocals, the English-sung are tracks are rather indifferent, the French vocals though have a very warm flavor.Most of the album alternates between acoustic textures with soft guitar touches and sometimes delicate flute, not unlike early GENESIS, and keyboard-based spacey/symph parts in the vein of FRUITCAKE or the mellower stuff of US and ELEGANT SIMPLICITY.His ideas though sound interesting and a help by a stable bandcore should have really helped.

''En ce jour et pour toujours'' is an album of dreamy, ethereal Progressive Rock, which however lacks a huge amount of energy and dynamics, as this is strongly based on Gauthier's atmospheric playing.Good album for fans of smooth Neo/Symphonic Progressive Rock, but rather a miss for more demanding prog ears...2.5 stars.