Ivan Jacquin - 2025 - Intimites

(35:01; Ivan Jacquin)

Track list:
1. Un Chemin 4:18
2. In the Air 6:57
3. On Revient 3:49
4. Derriere La Fenetre 7:15
5. Si 3:58
6. Un Prenom Un Visage 2:37
7. Autre Depart 6:07 

Line-up:
Ivan Jacquin - vocals, guitars, keyboards, percussion
with:
Henri-Pierre Prudent - drums
Trev Turley - bass
Maria Barbieri - guitars
Denis Codfert - drums
Richard Lefranc - bass
Amanda Lehmann - guitars, vocals


Prolusion.
French composer, vocalist and musician Ivan Jacquin has been active in the French music scene for more than 30 years, with guest appearances and tenures in a number of bands over the years as well as being a central part of several project constellations. In 2025 he further expanded his CV by recording a solo album, "Intimites", which was self released in the fall of 2025.

Analysis.
Jacquin is an artist that has been active in a number of different styles and types of music from what I can understand, with pop, jazz and metal all being genres he has explored to a lesser or greater degree over the years.

For his first solo album he has opted to explore a generally compelling and distinctly atmospheric laden variety of music, with the majority of the material residing somewhere inside of the progressive rock tradition. By and large with the neo-progressive rock tradition arguably being the dominant form explored.

We get three compositions that to a lesser or greater degree falls inside of the classic era neo-progressive expression here, with rich, atmospheric laden keyboard textures and flowing and floating guitar solo overlays being mainstay elements in these forays. All of them explore this tradition from a different point of view though, with one making use of symphonic inspired textures that adds a slight touch of older era progressive rock to the landscapes explored, one song that adds a little bit of a possible post-punk or goth rock emotional laden mood to the proceedings as well as the concluding 'Autre Depart' that shifts into a rich and dreamladen landscape with a minimal vocal presence following an atmospheric laden, violin inspired opening part.

In between those excursions we get songs that have a closer relation to more conventional pop/rock music, at times with a little bit of an art rock addition, and we also get one song that steps back to the 1970s for a little bit of a nod towards the music of Pink Floyd, albeit with what I would describe as a slight touch of Camel brought in to the proceedings in that specific case.

All of the compositions come across as emotional affairs too, but as with the variety in styles there's also a variation in the types of emotions that are present, and in most cases due to the vocal style and the varied use of emotional control in the vocal delivery. Which does add a neat additional variety to this production as an album experience.

Conclusion.
It is easy to hear that Ivan Jacquin is a seasoned hand as far as creating and exploring different musical landscapes are concerned, and this more accessible and atmospheric laden album is one that would have a fairly wide appeal too in my opinion. Where fans of the original 1980's type of neo-progressive rock strikes me as something of an essential audience in this case.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, March 2026

Links:
https://www.facebook.com/ivanjacquin