The genesis of the Dutch project 'Leap Day' dates back to 2007 when drummer 'Koen Roozen' of 'Flamborough Head' met keyboardist 'Derk Evert Waalkens' and two years later, with the addition of keyboardist 'Gert van Engelenburg', vocalist 'Jos Harteveld', guitarist 'Eddie Mulder' and bassist 'Peter Stel', released the first album 'Awaking the Muse'. Since then, four albums have been released ('Skylge's Lair' in 2011, 'From the Days of Decalion: Chapter 1' in 2013, 'From the Days of Decalion: Chapter 2' in 2015 and 'Timelapse' in 2018) and 'Treehouse' is therefore the band's sixth album. Their style is influenced by the great names of 70's progressive rock, and we sail through long developments in the great tradition of a researched and inventive progressive in which each artist brings his stone to the edifice. For this last album, we can note two changes since 'Hans Kuypers' replaces 'Jos Harteveld' on vocals and the bassist is now 'Harry Scholing'.
The album starts with the long development 'Like Icarus' which unfolds a refined progressive with melodic lines taking us back to the best of this style in the 70's, the two keyboardists showing all their complicity in this musical maze. The last minute is dedicated to the enumeration of the victims of the fire in an abandoned building in New Orleans in 2010. This is followed by 'Clementine', which continues the light-hearted musical atmosphere with catchy melodic lines, changes in tempo and a good balance between the vocal and instrumental parts. We continue the beautiful journey with 'Raining' which moves quietly alternating calm and energetic moments with saturated guitar riffs, then, the title track brings a light feeling with its swinging tempo and takes us back a few decades with bands like 'Focus' or 'Camel' with vintage keyboard sounds. Make way for 'May 5th' which continues in this relaxing atmosphere that has a beautiful instrumental part in the second half of the track incorporating some oriental sounds. And to finish this remarkable album, the 12 minutes of 'Autumn' offers us a magnificent finale giving off beautiful emotions, and in the second part, completely instrumental, we abandon ourselves completely by making our mind wander to the rhythm of the pleasant and harmonious melodic lines.
In summary, the Dutch of 'Lead Day' release a new album of great quality that takes us on a beautiful progressive journey, elegant and melodious; 'Treehouse' is still a nice surprise at the end of this year 2021 and should join the ideal discotheque of a large number of fans of this style who loved the major progressive formations of the 70s... | |
