I HEARD YOU LISTENING

Just when I expected Echolyn to take a well deserved victory lap of live dates after their 2012 self-titled masterpiece they just...well...kept on writing and recording. Seven years in the making, that album hangs like a shadow over this new one which took a brisk three. I've been listening to the wonderfully recorded album in it's 24bit/96kHz version for months now and it's a beautiful album that really shows Echolyn really not caring to live up to it's prog-laden roots but just to writing great, interesting, heartfelt songs. This will hurt them in the accumulation of prog accolades but Echolyn are past that. What you get now is the amazing groove laid down by Paul Ramsey with his partner Tom falling right into place beside him, the more and more warm and tasty keyboard stylings of Chris Buzby and the dual lead vocalists Brett Kull and Ray Weston emoting gorgeously throughout.

The album is strong with a nice even keel of quality throughout. In light of the many tracks that came out separately after the 2012 album (only at Bandcamp) you get the impression that if those are "not good enough" for an album or even that they just didn't fit somewhere that the band have a really high threshold for what makes it onto an album-what's worth working on to completion and to commit to a collection of songs to be called an Echolyn album. So the meticulousness shown on I HEARD YOU LISTENING is well appreciated. The energy on "Warjazz" and the cool soul on the verses of "Carried Home" stand out the most for me as the rest of the album is just solid HIGH-standard issue Echolyn. All the pitch slide harmonies and other patented Echolynisms are there.

If you read the "making of" on their website or have heard interviews lately, it's inspiring how much they really love what they do and have such strong friendships that inform the music they make. The attention to detail make this album worth having in your collection and it's a welcome addition to their canon of music.