Echo Us

Echo Us is a music concept project created by Ethan Matthews, former guitarist and producer of the progressive rock outfit Greyhaven. Originally formed as a recording duo and live band in Boston MA in the year 2000, Echo Us issued two early EP's, ironically now referred to as ?The Black? and ?The White? because of their black and white covers with only the group name appearing. No contact info and minimal liner notes were seen on these cds as they were originally distributed for live show promotion only.

The group initially formed of Ethan (guitar/programming), Matthew Cahoon (vocals), Kai Kurosawa (bass/Warr guitar), and Michael Van dyne (drums) played a number of Boston area shows before disbanding due to musical and internal differences in late 2001.

Ethan moved to Portland, Oregon in 2003, kept the name Echo Us and finished up work on the full length debut, finally issued in 2005 through his own label/ imprint. This recording marked a huge shift too a much more experimental and ambient sound, and also included the bass guitar of Kai Kurosawa, originally from the live band.

2009's The Tide Decides represented another transition. A nearly 70 minutes long conceptual work issued through Musea Records, the album included guest musicians Raelyn Olson (harp), Teri Untalan (viola), Andrew Greene (drums), and Aaron Bell (bass).

In 2007, the follow-up Tomorrow Will Tell The Story was composed from pieces of automatic writing and worked on concurrently with The Tide Decides until it's release, effectively forming a multi-album work. Like the preceding album, Tomorrow also includes a number of guest musicians including vocalist Henta, and again the harp of Raelyn Olson. Also appearing is a Kabbalistic ?canticle' performed by Rawn Clark, as well as harmonium by Daniel Panasenko. The album is due for release in Fall 2010.

www.echous.net

From Progarchives.com :


US outfit Echo Us is the creative vehicle of composer and multi-instrumentalist Ethan (Matthews), and was founded late in 2000 - following the demise of his previous band Greyhaven.

Ethan had wanted to use the name already in 1999, but for contractual reasons that wasn't possible at the time. This due to Greyhaven being signed to Angular Records at this point in time. One year later he assembled a band named Echo Us, who apart from being an active live unit also released two demo EPs - The Black in 2000 and The White in 2001. In the fall of 2001 that outfit fell apart though, and Echo Us was soon after reborn as a solo venture.

In 2002 Kai Kurosawa, who had been a apart of the band Echo Us, started working with Ethan in the making of a full length album. This collaboration ended when Ethan moved to Portland (Oregon), and continued the creation of the album. In 2005 the first full length production by Echo Us was issued, a self-titled affair issued on the Absolute Probability Recordings label.

Some time after this Echo Us was signed to legendary French label Musea Records, and following four years of development the sophomore effort The Tide Decides was issued by one of Musea's subsidiary labels - Musea Parallele. This effort was more of a sophisticated effort, involving several guest musicians. Musically it's a blend of electronic and acoustic music, incorporating a multitude of stylistic expressions. It is also a concept album, as well as a part of a greater conceptual theme.