echolyn

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echolyn
General information
Genre (s) Progressive rock , retro prog
founding 1989, 2000
resolution 1996
Website http://www.echolyn.com
Current occupation
Ray Weston
Guitar, vocals
 Brett Kull
Keyboard , vocals
 Chris Buzby
Tom Hyatt (1991–1996, since 2003)
Paul Ramsey
former members
bass
 Jesse Reyes (1989-1991)
Jordan Perslon (2000-2002)

Echolyn is an American progressive rock band from eastern Pennsylvania . The albums of their early creative period are influenced by the representatives of the classical era of progressive rock and are therefore counted among the retro-prog wave of the early 1990s. The later albums, however, show a greater degree of independence.

history

Echolyn's beginnings go back to 1989. Guitarist Brett Kull and drummer Paul Ramsey, previously members of the cover band Narcissus , which was dissolved shortly afterwards , joined forces with keyboardist Chris Buzby to form a new band with their own material. A short time later, Narcissus singer Ray Weston and bassist Jesse Reyes completed the line-up. It came to first appearances and the recording of their self-titled debut album , which was released in 1991. During the recording, Reyes was replaced on bass by Tom Hyatt.

With this line-up, they recorded their second album Suffocating the Bloom and a four-track EP called ... and every blossom , and with these releases they made Sony Music stand out. In 1993 they signed a multiple album contract with Sony's label Epic Records . Their major label debut As the World was released in 1995. After the band and the label could not reach an agreement on the further musical career of echolyn, they were forced to promote the album without the support of Sony and therefore later broke up on. In 1996 a compilation of demos and live tracks called When the Sweet Turns Sour was published posthumously .

Weston, Kull and Ramsey formed a band called Still , focusing on more catchy rock music. The name was later changed to Always Almost after the debut album . Buzby, on the other hand, founded a new progressive rock band with jazz rock borrowings with Finneus Gauge .

echolyn formed anew in the spring of 2000, but still without a Hyatt. Weston initially took over the open position of bassist, in addition to his vocals. Percussionist Jordan Perslon from Berklee College of Music , a former student of Buzby , joined as a new member . Two albums emerged from this line-up: Cowboy Poems Free , which is partly a concept album about Americana , and mei , which consists of a single, 50-minute piece. On mei Perlson is still performed as a guest musician.

After Hyatt made guest appearances by the band in 2002 and in spring 2003, he returned as a full member in the same year. The first album of the reunited classical line-up of echolyn, The End is Beautiful , was released in September 2005 and was promoted with their first European tour, which also took them to Würzburg and Reichenbach .

style

The band members named Genesis , Gentle Giant , Yes , Steely Dan , Jethro Tull and the Beatles as influences. Although the style of the band has changed noticeably in the course of its existence, these influences can be found constantly in their music: virtuoso guitar and keyboard solos, unusual harmonies with influences from jazz and modern classical music as well as interlaced counterpoint vocal passages still count to the defining style features.

The albums, which were made before their dissolution in 1996, contain other aspects of classic prog, such as spherical keyboard carpets and lush arrangements . In the course of the reunification, however, the focus was on convincing, tight songwriting and striking rhythmic grooves . The preference for the compositional refinements of the prog genre was retained.

Brett Kull and Ray Weston are mainly responsible for the songwriting. The texts of the early albums often deal with the position of the artist in society, while the more recent publications focus on the processing of experiences from the personal past.

Discography

Studio albums

  • echolyn (1991)
  • Suffocating the Bloom (1992)
  • As the World (1995)
  • Cowboy Poems Free (2000)
  • mei (2002)
  • The End Is Beautiful (2005)
  • Echolyn (The Window Album) (2012)
  • I Heard You Listening (2015)

Live albums and compilations

  • ... and every blossom (1993, EP)
  • When the Sweet Turns Sour (1996)
  • A Little Nonsense (Now and Then) (2002, box set)
  • Progfest '94 (the Official Bootleg) (2002)
  • Jersey Tomato, Volume 2 (Live at the Metlar-Bodine Museum) (2004)
  • Stars and Gardens, Volume 4 (DVD, 2004)

Web links