Guitar Garden: Listening Room

• MP3 play whole song, hi-fi (broadband)
• MP3 play whole song, lo-fi (modem)
• MP3 download whole song, hi-fi

FLORA MAJORA - “Prelude / Jacob at 30,000 Feet” (Lyrics by Askounes. Music by Prown. Vocal Arrangement by Ortner)

Musicians

James Ortner (California) The Vocal and The Bass

Pete Prown (Pennsylvania) The Guitar and The Keyboard

Leigh Blades (Washington, DC) The Drum and The Percussion

Michael Askounes (Maryland) The Lyric

Song Notes: With this track, we inadvertently created a new progressive sub-genre: “Garage Prog.” Titled “Jacob at 30,000 Feet,” the tune has a live, vibey sound, as if we were all hanging out in the drummer’s garage and jamming out like a bunch of proggy high schoolers. But really, we recorded each part hundreds, even thousands of miles apart.

The song began as an epic lyric written by Michael, which was then married to a riff I was working on. Then James kindly agreed to sing and play some excellent bass, while Leigh was employed to record his visceral drum part. The result is this feisty, energetic piece—maybe not technically perfect, but featuring an exuberant feel and some kick-ass performances from James and Leigh. Garage-Prog Lives! (And don’t forget to play it LOUD.)