Chris Fortier

New York-based DJ/producer Chris Fortier got his start in the music industry in Orlando (where he moved from the smaller city of Melbourne, Florida, for college). Having weathered the crapstorm that was the Nineties' progressive house movement and survived to sail into the seas of more substantial future music, he is sufficiently talented for the Sunshine State to want to claim him as its own.

Despite a 20-year career of remixing, producing singles, releasing mix CDs, and playing the international club circuit many times over, As Long as the Moment Exists is Fortier's proper solo debut album. His restraint in waiting this long instead of just tossing out whatever he was working on has paid off with considered arrangements and variety that surpass his early output. Bumping cuts like the acid-laden "Deviated Septum" could easily be snuck into a techno snob's playlist without reproach, while the title track displays an affinity for delicate ambient melody that hardly sounds like it came from the same studio. However, the album is not eclectic to the point of obnoxiousness. Fortier is pointed in the right direction, if he doesn't take as much time to release his sophomore album.