The album began with the idea to create music that elicited the imagination to conjure up the sweeping vistas of America. Then the word Americana got stuck in my head. Then as I started to create the music, I thought wouldn’t it be nice to tell a story of a man who is in love with the American dream who gets a chance to trade in his life for another.
And so something that was going to be instrumental became a modern-day concept album telling the story of Eddie Pilgrim: The Last of the Electric Horsemen. The music tells a story both thematically and narratively and puts the hero in a very Faustian conundrum, but where would the Devil reside? Why in Las Vegas, of course! And so the gamble is played out on the roulette table and a decision needs to be made.
The music is eclectic: being painted instrumental, guitar driven pop to out-and-out progressive rock featuring a splash of faux mellotron to whet your whistle.
The CD version of the album comes complete with a second disc, which is a DVD that contains a 5.1 surround sound mix in both DTS and Dolby Digital, plus the stereo mix and a commentary track from myself talking about the making of the album. There’s also a discography track that features 60 minutes of music from my back catalogue and two bonus extra videos that didn’t make the final edit. The DVD-ROM section of the disc contains a PDF of the book of the album and a free multimedia eBook that’s compatible with the iPad.
So for your money you get over three hours of original content and the electronic album sleeve that takes you through the story of Eddie Pilgrim and his fight against the things he desires.