EDENSONG
Edensong is a progressive rock quintet from New York City. The band’s self-released 2008 debut “the Fruit Fallen” was hailed as a “masterpiece” by critics, and helped to pave the way for live shows and notable festival appearances throughout North America, including Progday in North Carolina, Three Rivers Progressive Rock Festival in Pittsburgh, PA, and Festival Terra Incognita in Quebec City, where Edensong shared the stage with acts ranging from Ozric Tentancles to Kings X to Discipline. While the current lineup of the band wasn’t crystallized until 2009, Edensong’s roots reach back 20 years to Echoes of Eden, a progressive metal band comprised of three of Edensong’s core members.
For their 2016 followup, “Years in the Garden of Years,” a concept album to be released on September 30th through Laser’s Edge, Edensong further explores the intricately composed eclectic orchestral rock style of their debut, and infuse it with the energy and sheer power of their earlier music. Whereas “the Fruit Fallen” was the creative voice of singer/guitarist James Byron Schoen, “Years in the Garden of Years” was composed more collaboratively by the full band, and the diverse musical contributions and influences can be heard across the record, from metal to symphonic, atonal to melodic, acoustic to electronic, meticulously structured to fully improvised.
At over 70 minutes of new music, “Years in the Garden of Years” is even more ambitious than it’s predecessor, and will be sure to appeal to fans of both metal and classic progressive rock. The concept album features an extended song cycle on themes of time, each song a different scale and perspective. Given its subject, it therefore seems fitting that this project took the band over five years in the studio to complete. The melodies are more memorable, the riffs more powerful, the flute playing more inventive and propulsive. The songs prominently feature immersive new textures, from lush keyboard and orchestralarrangements to esoteric percussion from around the world, such as hang drum and Balinese gamelan. “Years in the Garden of Years” is mastered with audiophile precision by Grammy winning engineer Bob Katz, and the deluxe CD release features stunning original cover art and booklet illustrations from beloved surrealist painter Dan May.
