TIME SILENT RADIO II

I'm happy to admit I'm an echolyn fan. There's a unique chemistry and aesthetic to these guys; they are about as prog as one could want, and yet they sound like no other prog group (unless there's the now very infrequent nod to the fact that they have loved Gentle Giant). These are distinctly modern rock songs in several respects - the dynamics, instrumentation,some of the vocal stylizations, the normal lineup for a rock band. You have two bona fide epics - a semi (Time Has No Place) and an extra (Water In Our Hands). You have a sophistication and chase-taking on some tracks which takes their usual harmonic and structural gifts to another level - and sometimes one beyond that one. These are rich, deep compositions, as lovingly and skillfully composed as anything you will hear in progressive rock. And the lyrics amount to some devastating and gorgeous poetry - with a prominent theme of love and time and our ways of wasting, trying to preserve and reclaim them, in a world growing steadily tired of our presence.

And on Time Silent Radio vii, the companion album of seven shorter but still-substantial songs, you have a broad and mature mix of the dissonant-yet-earworm-quality echolyn could always achieve due to some very disciplined and innovative harmonic and rhythmic ideas, and also ofsome gentle lyrical, even dreamy passages which lovers of the transcendent moments in the Prog Masterworks look forward to. The songwriting has grown, deepened, taken on new dimensions and flavors, with some major chances taken, a repeated reaching for what exceeds the grasp... except these guys reach it. Masterpiece-level stuff. Yes, newcomes to the band can get a rich sampling of what this band excels at, but there are so many more layers to each piece, compositionally and production-wise, and in messaging, than even the always-high standard of this band has ever quite reached. This is the fulfillment of what this band does. And there's no reason to think there won't be more.

There are things that no "modern rock" or classic prog band would have thought of. There's an (to me) unprecedented cliche-free songwriting ethic here. In this album as much as any other they've done, there are hooks galore, sometimes separated by a short passage from another odd-time gem consisting of some deliciously weird harmonic movements (Time Has No Place - a beautiful two-part "what makes you weep in the minutes left behind... for what you'll never find", leading into what hits home as a brilliantly demented video-car-chase passage and actually funny Brett Kull wobbly guitar commentary seamlessly tranistioning into a a military nightmare....from there in turn leading into one of the most plaintively beautiful, soul-shaking passages I can remember, in a simple acoustic, choral melody - "they'll be waiting, but please don't hurry - just hoild in the air of Ivy Hill; everythings been giving, all these days that I'm re-living", just holding in the air of Ivy Hill." Weston's - and sometimes, I think, Brett Kull's - exquisitely sensitive empathy for the urge to hold onto the life which we fail to care for, appreciate, try to hold onto even as the sense of loss - personal and cultural - is devastating'.

I couldn't help but share that the "Ivy Hill section (section B of a four part movement always has the impact of making me wistfully nostalgic for a time I cannot name, which I know I've never been part of....best I could describe the spiritual quality of it is that there is a universal (something like Jung's Collective Unconscious, a concept I wrestle with a bit in my book, Freud's Lost Chord/Jazz in the Resonant Psyche, introducing Freud and Jung to Coltrane and Davis)...a universal wellspring, the musical analog of the archetypal realm for Jung, the place where the individual can recognise the music of the Universal, and drink from it, making it their own.

If you haven't figured it out, I'm really pleased with this album. I find it a solid notch and three-quarters above anything they've done in cohesion, mixing delicious hooks and surprises, woking in some of the most purely unprecedented and sophisticated compositional and harmonic ideas; first rate complex and deeply affecting vocal harmonies. Jordan Person is a seamless replacement for his old teacher, Paul Ramsay, who left after their last album (IHYL). Perlson is a crispier,slightly funkier, driving, drummer, articulating more straightforwardly but confident and flowing in the many odd-time passages. Instead of the flashier Tom Hyatt on bass, we have Ray Weston, melodic, perfectly adept and tasteful, his playing a fine complement to his extremely emotionally-evocative and relatable voice and lyrics.

It is a powerful album, another level in the song craft, the sophistication of the composing, harmonically, thematically.... it FEELS like they spent many years creating and polishing their magnum opus. I love their music - but never before have I listened to an album as compulsively right after release. I listened to the whole album every night for two weeks after New Years Eve, and I'm only just starting to slow down. There's so friggin' much music here, crafted immaculately. It rocks. It is musically challenging while being anywhere from relatable to jaw-dropping. You folks who didn't get the early release have a lot to look forward to.

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