BY HASAN MURAT SÜMER (EE/IV)
hasan.sumer@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
I have very few works by American progressive rock musicians in my playlist. So I’m glad that I recently discovered the band Echolyn and their relatively large discography. One obvious thing about the band is that their sound is heavily based on that of the band Gentle Giant, in the use of unusual time signatures, their preference in instruments, and the frequent and sudden changes in song dynamics, which surprise the listener multiple times in a short period of time. Gentle Giant was a band made up of outstanding musicians, but their emphasis on the surprise element made their music too tiring and difficult to listen to most of the time. Think of Echolyn as the evolution of Gentle Giant into something less challenging to listen to.
I still haven’t discovered that much of the band’s music, but their second studio album, “Suffocating the Bloom” (1992), seems to be their best work, and in fact it’s one 
of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard. You can see that the musicians put in a lot of effort here to ensure that their music was accessible. Whether it’s just some singing with an acoustic guitar melody in the background or a jazzy mix-up of every available instrument, the music is complex, but sounds absolutely beautiful. “Suffocating the Bloom” is a concept album that draws parallels between a human life moving from childhood to old age and the seasonal cycle of nature; allegoric uses of trees, leaves and scenes from the seasons (especially winter) are common. Together, the separate tracks on the album form a larger, smoothly flowing whole when listened to in order, as would be expected from a concept album. However, the 10 tracks on the second half form a separate whole: the climax of the album, “A Suite for Everyman.” This epic, which runs for almost half an hour, shows how a band can be so unique in sound even while their style is extremely similar to that of their sources of inspiration. “A Suite for Everyman” deals primarily with humans losing their innocence as they step away from childhood and grow to enjoy lies and false beauties in life. The suite has a nonrepeating pattern within itself; therefore it’s difficult to memorize its structure or try to remember what’s coming next until you’ve listened to it many, many times. So you can enjoy all the complexity of Gentle Giant, all the folky character of Jethro Tull and all the orchestral sound of Yes, innovatively incorporated into a single suite, for a very long time before you get bored.
The other work by Echolyn that I like very much is “Mei” (2002), a 50-minute-long suite that forms an album by itself. It was released 10 years after “Suffocating the Bloom”; the influence from Gentle Giant is less noticeable, the complexity is toned down and the resulting product is much more comparable to Jethro Tull’s “Thick as a Brick” (1972). While sounding quite different, the structure, the variety of musical styles and moods, some melodies and even the vocalization in “Mei” make it seem like a modern-day adaptation of Tull’s masterpiece. Just as the flute was the omnipresent instrument in TAAB, the organ is everywhere in “Mei.” The music sometimes becomes fast and angry, sometimes soft and emotional, but the atmosphere is generally cheerful. The choice of instruments is rich, and includes the flute, clarinet, violin, cello and vibraphone. Even though “Mei” is one big, continuous piece of music, the sections within it don’t create something conceptual to the extent seen in “Suffocating the Bloom.” Once the suite ends, not much stays in your mind to reflect the meaning of what you’ve just listened to (unlike the case with TAAB). I guess “50 minutes of amazing music, nothing more, nothing less” is the best description for “Mei.” Even though I’m just getting into their music, I think that Echolyn is one of modern progressive rock’s most representative bands: a recommendation for everyman.