THE D PROJECT: Making Sense (2014)

  'The D Project' is the personal project of the Canadian musician/composer Stephane Desbienes, who was the leader in the band 'Sense' a few years ago. Since 2005 he deals with this music project, and the result is interesting to say the least.
  Stephane invides some musicians (famous or not) to participate on every one of his albums, and the result is a rather different sound and style on each of his albums. In his previous albums he worked with musicians such as: Tomas Bodin (Flower Kings), Martin Orford (IQ), Fred Schendel (Glass Hammer) Stuart Nicholson (Galahad), Derek Sherinian (ex Dream Theater) among many others.
 'Making Sense' is his 4rth release, and maybe the best and more mature one so far.
Here, Stephane does the vocals in all the songs, plays guitar and keyboards, and together with the brothers Matheu and Jean Gosselin are let's say the "soul" of the band. But there are also some guest musicians participating here, such as: Sean Filkins (ex Big Big Train), Claude Leonetti (Lazuli) and Guillaume Fontaine (Nemo).
  Now let's take a closer look on the album: It contains 8 tracks, and has a total running time of almost 45 minutes. I dare say that every song is different than the others, and has its own music style.
  Stephane is influenced by many bands (as he admited himself when he was a 'guest" on my radio show), and some of these influences are very clear in this album.
 The album opens with the powerful 'Rearview Mirror' which is one of the best songs in my opinon. When I listened to the album for the first time I thought to myself that this song was probably written to become the "hit song" of the album, but I was mistaken. (Stephane informed me which song was writen in order to become a hit).
 Next comes 'Making Sense', a very beautiful composition which brings Pink Floyd to the listeners mind from the start till the end. (Stephane also stated that this song was totally influenced by Pink Floyd). It also includes an excellent saxophone solo, and is surely one of the best moments of the album.
Third track is 'What is Real' which is a nice song, but it doesn't offer something more than the previous two ones. It has a "lighter" and a more "commercial" sound in my opinion.
Next comes 'Nothing here is Innocent', which seems as a low profile song at start, but it changes dramatically, and at some points reminds bands like King Crimson (mostly) and Van Der Graaf Generator. (Especially in the parts where the songs turns to Jazz).
"Missing Star' is a melodic tune, with a great guitar and saxophone solo. Once more song that it seems influenced by Pink Floyd though. (In my opinion at least).
And then comes 'Spanish Castle' which is a totally different tune. It's an instrumental one, and here Stephane gives us a small idea about his guital skills. (That song could easily have been written by Paco De Lucia).
  'Spanish Castle' is followed by 'Dagger', the "Hit song" of the album (according to Stephane) . It has a very light sound and maybe it was writen to become a hit, but for me is the "weakest" song here.
 The album's closing song is the 9+ minute-long 'Out of Range/Out of Line' which is maybe the most "Progressive" song here. With many changes throughout the song, and many different music styles mixing together. A very interesting composition, which closes the album in the best way possible.
  Concluding this post I have to say that 'Making Sense' was a very pleasant surprise for me, not only for the quality of the songs, but for the production as well. 
  Highly recommended to all the fans of melodic Progressive Rock and Neo-Prog.
  I will add a couple of videos as well, in order to have a small idea about the album: