Mei (Echolyn, 2002)

More than a concept album, "Mei" is a concept song, as it only includes this very long and undivided suite lasting some 50 minutes. It would be useless to try a description in a few lines, so I better like to express some of the feelings this musical river inspires me. First of all, the seven piece chamber orchestra joining the band in the studio give a classical-but-never-too-much taste to these abundant materials and also empower the arrangements choices, so that this record is even more eclectic than usual (and that's saying something with Echolyn!).

"Mei" was the Sixth full-lenght studio album by Echolyn.

No doubt, the beautiful melodies are another strong point of "Mei" and so are the careful and tasteful changes in tempo and mood, but please don't forget the lyrics. The whole epic is kind of a road song, dealing with a both real and imaginary trip, an everlasting journey on everchanging roads. Something like a surrealistic Kerouac or a realistic Lamb Lies down on Broadway. Well, the inspirations aren't essential: all that matters here is the beauty of such a progressive masterpiece.

A Suite for Everyman (Echolyn, 1992)

When it comes to diversity and fantasy, this US band can't be forgotten. And if you had to choose just one track to get into Echolyn's world, "A Suite for Everyman" should be your best choice. Taken from the album "Suffocating The Bloom", this epic is divided into eleven parts, each one with a mood of its own, still so well lined up that the global effect is that of a complex and coherent tapestry. There are so many good ideas in this song, so many original sounds... full melodies, ethnic rythms, dissonant harmonies, effective guitar solos, brass illuminations, synth progressions and so on.

 

"Suffocating The Bloom" was Echolyn's second studio album.

Sure, all that stuff could baffle some listeners, but Echolyn have the right amount of good taste and a strong sense of proportion, two essential gifts for such an eclectic band. Finally, this suite will convince you that those clever musicians aren't mere Gentle Giant's followers... well, that wouldn't be a shame, of course!

As The World (Echolyn, 1995)

Did you ever wonder how Gentle Giant would sound if they were born in the '90s? Well, if you did, Echolyn is the answer. This American band is one of the happy few considering the Shulman brothers' band as a major influence for their music. This doesn't mean they reproduce the original sound of the '70s, on the contrary they have their own trademark, made of good ol' prog, but also of a genuine research in contemporary music field.

Echolyn in 1995 in a Sony official press photograph.

The title track of their 1995 album - the only one released by a major recording company - is a fine example of this. Complex plots, some instrumental passages and a good vocal harmony lay on a syncopated rythm and the general mood is one of joyful adventure. The lyrics perfectly describe what music means for the band and those lines could be adopted as a manifesto by many other prog musicians. Please, read this:

I'm stretching my ears they're open and not withstanding
To rhythmic syncopation, harmonic dissonance
I move to a groove that will never stop swinging
And I sing to a song that never ends
I'm pushing my brain to think a little harder
To learn from the simple and question the complex
If logic and reason are the gods that you follow
Then you'll drown in your soul's emptiness.