South Bend Tribune article 4-18-08

Escherbach plays off its three muses

By JACK WALTON
Tribune Correspondent

Douglas Hofstadter's 1979 book "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid" examines parallels among the works of mathematician-philosopher Kurt Gödel, artist Maurits Escher and composer Johann Sebastian Bach. The study is an ambitious synthesis of ideas pertaining to cognition, biology, paradox, number theory, poetry, and several other ideas and idioms suggested to Hofstadter by the works of the three men of its title.

The book also gave a new local instrumental rock trio its name, Escherbach, and helped shape its ideas. The group identifies numerous similarities between its methods and the common threads that Hofstadter detailed.

Guitarist Neil Carmichael points to Escher's use of negative space to represent birds and fish in "Sky and Water I" and the simultaneous ascending and descending lines in Bach fugues as something the band explores in its compositions.

"We wanted to incorporate (an Escher-like) visual experience into an aural experience," Carmichael says. "Bach uses some of the same symmetrical techniques, and we've incorporated some of his style, his phrasings and note selection, into our music."

"There are parts in the music where one riff will literally change as it's played and morph into the next riff, the next section of the song," bassist Matt Minkis says.

Formed in 2007, Escherbach has already completed one album, "Cycles," and plans to wrap up a sophomore release by late summer. The band is seeking a manager or booking agent to get it on the road for extensive touring, but is mainly staying nearby for the time being. On Saturday, Escherbach performs at the Anchor Inn in South Bend.

Carmichael, Minkis and drummer Sean Norris were all members of another area band, Eargazm, known for its "jam band" music in the tradition of Phish and Umphrey's McGee. Escherbach finds the three leaving behind most of Eargazm's style, though, and instead pushing toward a more intricate progressive rock with a twinge of fusion jazz.

"There are still some elements of jam in what we're doing, but they're slowly drifting away," Minkis says.

"Most of the stuff that we write is very prescribed, predetermined, so there's not as much room for improvisation, whereas a lot of jam music is typically improvisational," Carmichael says. "They'll have a general structure of how they want a specific section to go and then they'll make up parts over that. We still do a little bit of that, but mostly everything is written out: what kind of harmonies we want — a fifth or a third or whatever — and major or minor over whatever root note we're playing. Jam is more fuzzy. What we do is more specific, with a lot of nuance to it."

Without a singer and lyrics in the mix, Escherbach can focus on conjuring metaphysical thoughts and responses from its listeners. The trio is interested in portraying in its music notions that are far removed from the usual lyrical concerns, such as love or politics. Escherbach is going for more cosmic themes.

"If you look at the fabric of the universe that underlies the macro side — the micro, those quantum filaments, those strings that are vibrating around — reality as we know it really doesn't resemble our everyday experiences or interactions," Minkis says. "With vocals, it's telling more of a story, hitting a different part of your brain. You're giving someone an idea, a passageway into your life. We're trying to take our music and connect directly with the listener. Instead of having them thinking of a story, they can overlay their own thoughts and ideas onto it."

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