In the mind of Kyle Evans, a.k.a. Echo Bloom, great art is the result of careful process. And after a year spent on his new album, “Jamboree“, he’s got the goods to back up his ideas. Equal parts composer and music theorist, Kyle’s success with Rosemont Family Reunion (from which spun off the band Junior League) and his research into digital music formats has led him to the development of some eyebrow-raising tools for musicphiles and a collection of songs that represent his interests in music meaningfully related to the process that creates it.
“Jamboree” is inspired by the remaining photos from August Sander’s “People of the 20th Century“, currently on exhibition at the Getty Museum. Through a carefully categorized series of black and white stills of various members of society, Sanders creates a synchronicity of method and medium, a technique Kyle expands upon and enriches with musical “sketches” for some of Sander’s subjects and some of his own. The President, the murderer and the humble weather forecaster make appearances, each represented by a different genre.
“Some of the best art I know of combines organization and representation into unbelievably cohesive pieces with multiple entry points,” explains Kyle. “In this case, when it’s done well, there’s something created for people who like taxonomy and people who like black and white photography.”
Kyle is joined on the new album by Shareef Taher on percussion, Jason Mattis (of the Welchers) on bass, and Dan Roberts (of the Dan Roberts Trio) on keyboards. Recorded and mixed in just 4 days, the group worked from initial concepts and then were turned loose to let individual talent influence each track. “The only barrier between what I want and what I get is how well I can communicate,” Kyle explains. “They’re that good.”
A working example of the communication Kyle uses is the iMap, best described in his own words as: “…a tool for creative taxonomy that considers what you say (narrative) and how you say it (execution).” Used in a way to visually represent a piece of music (or any artwork), each of the ten tracks on “Jamboree” can be related to whatever music was influential during its composition. Building on the concept of music as “an inherently social pursuit”, Kyle has also developed “Project Nevins“, the end result being a new kind of online audio player that aims to help people communicate about music in a more open and efficient way. For more on these new approaches to songwriting and social listening, check out his online notebook documenting the creation of “Jamboree” and his other projects.
“Echo Bloom” will be performing at their CD release party at the Rock and Roll Hotel on Wednesday, August 20. Featured below is an exclusive track from “Jamboree“, entitled “The Preacher“.
