MARGEN (Spain) no. 19/20 (Spring
2000), p.
This is the second release of Ed Macan, the American composer who
elevated the morale of progressive music aficionados with his first
discographic effort and who now repeats the experiment. That which first of all calls attention
to Ed Macan is that musically he is an interpreter of progressive rock who
likes to disguise himself as a contemporary composer, given his fondness for
the mallet instruments (marimba and vibraphone) and analog keyboards, and above
all for his moving away from the conventional currents implanted in
progressive. Capable of converting
a piece like Rush’s “Jacob’s Ladder” into a creation dominated by an
indisputable aroma of atmospheric jazz, Ed Macan and his project Hermetic
Science create music which transcends the progressive rock genre such as it has
been defined over the course of the years. In his head the influence of classic progressive cohabitates
equally with the most forward-looking conception of chamber rock and the
minimalism of [Steve] Reich, and the solution to such puzzles takes form in
pieces that are complex yet structurally clear. You don’t encounter here the powerful sonorities of Univers
Zero or the timbral variations of ELP, but certainly all of their harmonic
potential. The central piece of
the album is “Prophesies,” a composition of 42 minutes in six movements that
possesses all the skill of the bands cited above (listen to “Leviathan and
Behemoth,” the album’s major track) and some others too, like the familiarity with
the sound diagrammed by Fonya in “Hope Against Hope,” second part of the
suite. Don’t allow to pass
unnoticed either a certain liking for improvisation or a reliance on sudden
surprises, which are purely Zappa-like conceptions of structuring the pieces. All this and much more shows us the way
of a third stream in the terrain of new music, which creates a context of
familiar influences and intermingles them. Returning to that which we say is most important, we can
define Ed Macan as a contemporary composer working in progressive rock, or
vice-versa. Completing the staff
is Andy Durham (bass), Nate Perry (bass), and Matt McClimon (drums). As a “bonus track” we are offered an
18:48 version of ELP’s Tarkus for solo piano. Recommended.
Rafa Dorado