SHIMMERING LIGHTS

The opening of this album sounds like the beginning of Pink Floyd's Dogs, and that turns out to be a recurring theme throughout the album. Mostly in Stephane Desbiens' vocals (not the tone, but the style and lyrics), keyboards, and sometimes his guitar, there is a sense that he has listened to Pink Floyd a lot, and used their sound as a launching point for this, his first album as The D project.

That isn't to say this album is a clone or rip-off of Floyd, although many tracks have a "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason" vibe, and one sound a little like Pigs On The Wing. Interspersed are some Steve Howe influenced guitar lines, and Tony Banks (ugh) inspired synths. All of this is blended with some modern (The Flower Kings, Spock's Beard...) symphonic prog, that raises this album (at least to me) over the usual Genesis inspired neo-prog.

The standout track is That's Life, which despite having lyrics that only consist of the title sung in chorus repeatedly, has the most energetic arrangement and performance on the album.

While I'm not a huge fan of most neo, I do find this to be a tasty album.