DESCRIPTION:
Fonya - Soul Travels 1993

Technical Info
Guitars:

Guild S300-D 6-String Electric Guitar
Hohner PJ 4-String Bass Guitar
Keyboards:

Ensoniq ESQ-1 Synthesizer
Akai X7000 Sampler
Yamaha FB01 Tone Module
Drums:

Boss DR-550 Drum Machine
Alesis HR-16 Drum Machine
Sequencers (used for keyboard, drum, effect, and light tracks):

Ensoniq ESQ-1 10,000 note sequencer
Amiga 1000 running Bars&Pipes and MIDIQuest

All music composed, performed, and produced by Chris Fournier.


Chris Fournier has been releasing music in the electronic/progressive rock
genre since 1991. Much of this music has been under the Fonya moniker,
but more recently he has embarked on other projects under various incarnations.

Chris took up bass guitar and began taking lessons while he was a freshman in
high school. At that point, he learned to read music and was then able to learn
keyboards, guitar, and drums on his own. He and his brother Anthony, an
accomplished drummer, jammed together in several high school bands playing
mostly Rush and Black Sabbath covers. The bass player/drummer interaction
between Chris and Anthony gave Chris some valuable percussive insights which
proved helpful in the development of his drum programming skills.

After his graduation in 1981 from Portland, Maine's Cheverus High School,
Chris began making a living playing Top 40 dance music as a bassist and
keyboardist. This paid the bills for about six years, after which the need
for a change of direction became impossible to ignore. As a dedicated
progressive rock fan, playing dance music was a musical dead-end for
Chris. Towards the end of this period, he bought a 4-track recorder and
began composing some primitive progressive rock.

Chris then took on the task of getting a full education in order to buy
some musical freedom. In the next six years, he earned a degree in
electronics from the Southern Maine Technical College and a degree in
electrical engineering from the University of Maine. While in school, he
continually upgraded his musical setup to the point where he controlled
several keyboards, effects, drums, and a light show from his computer.
His compositional skills grew considerably during this time as well. During
his junior year at UM, he recorded his first CD, Wanderers of the
Neverending Night, for the Kinesis (then Kinetic Discs) label. His brother
Phil contributed vocals on four of the tracks. During Chris' senior year,
he recorded his second work, Soul Travels, for Kinesis.

Upon graduation in 1993, Chris moved to Dallas, Texas and continued to
release new CDs with Kinesis, including In Flux, Earth Shaper, and Perfect
Cosmological Principle. Fonya continued with his sixth release, Upper Level
Open Space, on Musea. Chris has also contributed tracks to the Mellow
Records Camel tribute, Harbour of Joy, their Gentle Giant tribute, Giant
for a Life, and their tribute to Italian progressive rock of the 70s,
Zarathustra's Revenge. The last work by Fonya is a body of vocal
progressive rock called Sunset Cliffs, currently available here.

With the Fonya project complete, Chris has moved to other incarnations.
More progressive rock under the Centric Jones banner is available on the
Phase Rotator Retard album - this project features Chris on acoustic
drums and Dale Degen on vocals. A work by Chris in the techno/trance
genre called Spaceman C may be released sometime in the future as well.

Chris' main musical influences include Eddie Jobson, early Genesis,
Happy the Man, Tangerine Dream, PFM, Camel, Craft, and Kenso.
Though these influences play a part, they are not the model for his
music. His style combines electronic music, fusion, progressive rock,
and romantic-era symphonic music to create a rich, multi-textured,
and very original sound. Give it a listen and decide for yourself!