New album Retro out now, Download lyrics here
'McKechnie is a rare talent and this eclectic, yet entirely coherent, collection will delight fans of cross-genre explorations and quirky, inimitably British art rock.' - Gary Mackenzie (Prog Magazine)
'Do you want some real, modern progressive music? The one that covers practically any musical ground, from folk, rock to jazz, and modern classical? If so, then you don’t have to look any further than Simon McKechnie’s latest album, Retro.' -
Ljubinko Zivkovic (Echoes and Dust)
'I said it a long time ago, that there is nothing this artist cannot do. He has proven me correct and continues to surprise me each time, with another singular masterpiece.' - Lee Henderson (Big Beautiful Noise)
'This really is a fine album, and the future looks bright for Simon if he can keep delivering intelligent, articulate, and multi-faceted music like this here on ‘Retro’.' - John Wenlock-Smith (Progradar)
'Whereas modern prog groups who try to sound like in the good old days either seem to end up with uninteresting pastiche or with a lifeless modern digital sound that doesn’t fit the style, Simon McKechnie somehow manages to get it all right.' -
Michael Bjorn - The Ten Best Albums of Q1 2021
'All of the tracks have their charms and Simon has done a fine job in keeping this a cerebral listen whilst retaining the rock elements.' - Jez Rowden (The Progressive Aspect)
I would like to tell you some of the stories behind the tracks on my new album.
The Origin of species
When reading
On the Origin of Species I was struck by the sheer magnitude of the lines that flowed from Mr Darwin's pen. So I put together this extended piece, setting Darwin's own words. The idea was to bring the drama of Darwin's concepts, such as Natural Selection and Survival of the Fittest to life, ending with the mind-blowing final paragraph of the book. Progressive rock anyone?
“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved.” ― Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species
The Origin of Species
Retro
Are we just rehashing bits from our favourite albums? Is there anything really new in rock music? Modernism? Postmodernism? Post postmodernism? Answers on a postcard…
This track gave me a good excuse to turn various musical styles inside out and back to front and to play with lots of vintage sounds. My original idea was to write a piece that went further and further back into musical history, but I got hooked on the main 'rock and roll' riff and ended up turning the song into a more regular form (ish). For the musical nerds like me, there is a breakdown following the line 'Man I'll even sample me' that is sampled from the title track to my album 'From My Head to My Feet'.
The Enchantress of Number
This piece tells the story of the 19th century mathematician Ada Lovelace. She imagined that pure calculation could be used for applications beyond mathematics such as for writing music. She was thus the first to imagine the role that computers have today. Oh, and she was Lord Byron’s daughter, wrote the first computer program, had a gambling and drug problem, but had an otherwise boring life.
The song is in four parts. First there is a fast paced instrumental introduction which is meant to give the impression of numbers coalescing into the orchestral textures. Then we look at Ada's difficult upbringing, troubled by illness and living in the shadow of her father Lord Byron. Next we find Ada dazzling high society with her wit and intelligence, then meeting Charles Babbage, who would become her friend and mentor, the person who named her 'The Enchantress of Number'. Finally there is a section looking at her legacy.
There is a percussive loop in the last section of The Enchantress that is a field recording of Charles Babbage’s
Difference Engine Number 2. This machine fascinated Ada when she first met Babbage at one of his soirees. I am very grateful to Richard Horton of London's Science Museum for giving me the opportunity to record it. You can listen to the loop isolated
here
The Return of the Beagle
There is an acoustic guitar part in 'The Origin of Species' that I wanted to do more with. So, I worked on it and it turned into this piece. You can hear the guitar part soloed
here. I imagined the wind billowing through the Beagle's sails as Darwin is going through his notes below deck.
Allow me to indtroduce the guest musicians...
Adam Riley
Adam played on my three previous progressive rock releases. He was also the drummer in my old jazz fusion band
Azul. He played in
Cubana Bop, sessioned for
Tanita Tikaram, played at the Brit Awards with
Jamie Cullum and
Katie Melua, and in the West End shows
Million Dollar Quartet and
The Book of Mormon.
Mike Flynn
Mike and I have played together in many projects over the years including a jazz duo, wedding bands and a country band for which I sang 'Stand By Your Man' as an encore. Mike has played and toured internationally with many artists. I am jealous of him because he has nicer guitars than me.
