These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruins (Musea, 2008)
Hermetic Science is one of the most fascinating acts in the recent American progressive rock scene. While many other acts try to emulate the 1970s masters or waste their time with heavy metal excursions, Hermetic Science stays true to the progressive rock spirit by creating new music that is both appealing and exploratory as well.
The group is led by composer, music educator and multi-instrumentalist Ed Macan, who plays a wide range of keyboards as well as mallet percussion. On These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruins he is joined by two equally excellent musicians, Jason Hoopes on bass and guitars and Angelique Curry on drums and percussion.
These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruins navigates the waters of symphonic rock, fusion and contemporary classical music. Macan uses piano, Hammond organ, marimbas, vibraphones and synthesizers to create fascinating melodies and atmospheres. Jason Hoopes uses jazz style electric bass lines that sometimes recalls the great Canterbury progressive rock tradition. Angelique Curry adds creative percussion sounds. She uses drums, cymbals, gongs and other instruments that enrich the music of Hermetic Science.
One of the goals of Hermetic Science is to serve as a testing ground for young musicians to serve in an apprentice role under a master craftsman. During the periods when Hermetic Science has been active, the band has been staffed by several of the finest drummers and bass guitarists from both College of the Redwoods in Eureka , California , where Macan is Professor of Music, and Humboldt State University , in nearby Arcata.
Another objective was to use Hermetic Science as a forum for exploring the possibilities of mallet percussion instruments such as the vibraphone and marimba in a progressive music format. Between the early 1980s and early 1990s, Macan created a unique approach to playing these instruments in which the right hand and left hand parts were treated with complete independence—the two right hand mallets were used to play lead lines against the background chords and moving bass lines played by the left hand mallets.
Paul Whitehead, the surrealist artist best known for his covers for early Genesis and Van der Graaf Generator, made the cover for These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruins.
These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruins showcases three superb instrumentalists who have taken progressive rock to the 21st century.
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