FORGIVING EDEN

I suspect that this is a small work of true art. Unfortunately, I probably haven't listened to this cd enough times yet to fully understand the structure of the overall work, and what exactly it is trying to ultimately accomplish or convey...but it is thoroughly enjoyable! "Forgiving Eden" is a 43-minute suite of instrumental music divided (seemingly arbitrarily) into 8 imaginative tracks with multiple movements within the tracks. A bit dark or suspenseful overall, the poem on the back cover suggests themes dealing mostly with Sin and Forgiveness. To me, the structure is most like a suite of music to a film score.

This work succeeds in integrating many styles and soundscapes together with traditional prog and jazz instrumentation, even while sometimes sounding almost orchestral. With a classical foundation, blending modern keyboards with analog ones, at times sounding cinematic, at others like psychedelic lounge jazz, this eclectic mix is difficult music to categorize! "Contemporary Symphonic Progressive Rock/Jazz Fusion"?

This is pretty heady stuff that can work fine as background music, but also contains so many challenging moments of interesting complexity and stellar musicianship as to require full-attention listening. Rick Eddy and Tim Drumheller (A Triggering Myth) are exceptional keyboardists and composers with a wide and diverse range of influences, not the least of which is the Canterbury school of prog. Scott McGill's guitar here is superb, and Vic Stevens' drumming is standout. Throughout the cd, transitions between melodies or styles are cleverly segued so that they rarely sound jarring or out of place despite the wide palette from which this musical story is painted; short piano interludes occasionally aid in those transitions. They seem to sense just when to move on to the next section or style, even as certain themes and rhythms recur to form some sort of cohesion throughout the piece. (Honestly, I usually don't go for albums that have this diverse a stew of musical styles - but this somehow works!)

This cd will take more than a few listens to appreciate, folks; and Listen is exactly what you'll have to do to comprehend just how varied and indefinable (in words) the scope of this music is. Yeah, the jazz is jazzy, the prog is proggy, the moods are moody...but this takes progressive music into a new and unique zone worth further exploration. Recommended. 4-1/2 stars