Church of Hed Releases The Father Road!

24-bit audio, exclusive to Bandcamp. Get those FLACs!

Church of Hed’s new double album, The Father Road, takes us on a surreal aural journey across the United States along the Lincoln Highway, the first transcontinental road built for automobiles. It’s effectively the sequel to the band’s 2011 album, Rivers of Asphalt, which traveled the legendary Route 66. The music shifts and evolves in tandem with the scenic backdrop of America from San Francisco to New York City. As with the original release, the sense of a lost era lurks throughout the album.

The music within features Church of Hed’s unique mix of spacerock, psychedelia, prog rock, krautrock, and electronic music. It channels diverse influences, ranging from CAN, Cluster, Brian Eno, and Hawkwind, to YES and The Flaming Lips, in addition to Glass, Reich, and Riley. In the end, it always manages to sound predominately like Church of Hed. Of course, Kraftwerk provided the original concept of combining electronic music with a transportation corridor!

The band’s Paul Williams composed, performed, and produced The Father Road with help from Quarkspace guitarist, Stan Lyon, on bass and guitar. Williams plays an array of synthesizers, keyboards, and electric drums. Surreal ambience highlights the western portion of the highway, while more lyrical instrumental pieces aurally describe the more populated sections of this old road. Check out the expanded liner notes at: churchofhed.com/releases/church-of-hed-the-father-road/

Released both on CD and digitally, The Father Road is available on CD or download from Bandcamp,

Indeed. It's a small world. Thanks for checking out our stuff!

I don't really play out anymore, too much gear to schlep, plus I lack the number of appendages to cover multiple parts live. Nevertheless, I do play in from time to time.

Sadly, these are the only three tracks from The Father Road (out of 20) I can do justice to live. I am figuring out the arpeggiation (a bit of live improv magic originally) from Sierra Crest to make four.

 

Here's another new video from The Father Road. This time out we trace where Route 66 meets the Lincoln Highway in Plainfield, IL. It's a synth (Moog)-laden track mixing psychedelic prog with electronica and minimalism. In short, Church of Hed!

Here are the first published reviews of The Father Road.

First, a video review from Sea of Tranquility's Peter Pardo.

And here's a review from Expose and Peter Thelen.

Today is also Bandcamp Friday, so head on over and pick up The Father Road and/or some of the other 28 releases from Eternity's Jest Records, including Quarkspace, National Steam, and Church of Hed.

Thanks!!

Of course, we prefer folks support us by buying a CD or a download of The Father Road. Nevertheless, we understand the convenience of streaming. So here's a link to the album on Spotify. Maybe some year they will increase their royalty rates, but I'm not holding that hit in! Cough, cough.