TRANSCENDENCE SINGER ED HALE TALKS DEATH AND THE BAND’S NEW SINGLE “SOLARIS”

Out of the 11 songs on the new Ed Hale & the Transcendence album, All Your Heroes Become Villains, there are only 3 that offer any kind of hope, optimism, or hopefulness: track 3 entitled “Solaris,” track 6 “Here it Comes,” and the album closer “Last Stand at the Walls of Zion.” The rest of the album is a dark heavy brooding downward spiral into the lead character’s disillusionment with everything in the world and his own personal life. From the album’s trance-hop meets operatic opening — which starts with a slow dirge-like rhythm and then builds to a climactic crescendo of dissonance punctuated by two competing melodies played by a trombone and guest vocalist Dee Dee Wilde’s gorgeous gospel-tinged wailing — all the way through to the album’s closing track, All Your Heroes Become Villains feels and sounds like the perfect soundtrack to the end of the world.


Song by song the lead character vents his anger and disappointment with the society he lives in and his own personal life, aiming his rage at everything from the political system (“Blind Eye” and “We Are Columbine”) to God and religion (“Waiting for Godot”) to friendship and romance (“Indian Princess” and “Messed it Up Again”). The climax of the album is track #10, the majestic seven-minute ‘suicide letter in a song’ the band entitles “After Tomorrow” (already a favorite among adventurous college radio DJs) where it becomes clear that the lead character has had enough of blaming the world around him and has turned inward only to discover that he doesn’t have what it takes to continue any further in a world full of hate, war, disease, crime and betrayal.
And yet amongst all this drama and pathos there is the beauty and hopefulness of the song “Solaris.” In their traditional Britpop meets post-modern rock style, Ed Hale and company deliver a near perfect pop song clocking in at three minutes and thirty seconds that shines a bit of light on the stage of their apocalyptic rock opera. Sweet and tender and yet mysterious, “Solaris” seems at first to be a love song. But the female character being sung to doesn’t appear to even be alive, at least not alive in the traditional sense; on planet Earth. Rather, the lead character sounds as if he is singing to someone far removed from all his earthly troubles, someone who is far far away, living in another galaxy or star system called “Solaris.”
Lead singer Ed Hale summed it up this way, “A girl I knew, someone very close to me, had just passed away. And I found it impossible to deal with emotionally. Right around the same time, I had a chance to see the DVD of this beautiful movie called “Solaris” starring George Clooney. This movie is a trip. Very slow. You have to flow with it. It was based on the book by Stanislaw Lem. Seeing that movie hit me at the right time. I had my guitar with me of course and while I was watching the film I just started strumming these chords and creating this song about my friend… What I did really, was just place her, Julia, into the movie… in order to bring her back to life for myself. I just felt that because it was unbearable to contemplate her passing that at the very least I could make her alive in some other form, like she’s still living but in a different dimension. So the song “Solaris” is me, or the lead character of the album I guess, singing a prayer to her or for her, talking to her… asking her how she’s doing… like “how’s life in your new world Julia?” It made me feel better. And although it isn’t enough to keep the lead character alive by the end of the album, I think it gives him some hope along the way to his final decision… like that.”

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ED HALE AND THE TRANSCENDENCE RELEASE “BLIND EYE” MP3

Endless war, exploitation, lies. Turn the anger and outrage into a guitar riff, and you have the pulsing heart of “Blind Eye,” the latest release from All Your Heroes Become Villains by Ed Hale and The Transcendence. The riff, accomplished by some tricky open-D tuning, and then mirrored by syncopated bass (Roger Houdaille) and drums (Ricardo Mazzi), sets the emotional tone, giving the listener more than a hint where the song is going.
“It’s cynical as hell but I think it’s how a lot of us feel right now in the US; and around the world,” says Ed Hale. “You [politicians, elected officials] can do whatever the fuck you want to. I’m sick of your lies. I’m sick of your endless wars. So here’s the deal: do whatever you want to. I’m sick of fighting you. So I’m going to turn a blind eye to you and your wicked bs. But just don’t mess with me or my family. Don’t come near my home. And don’t ask me to help you in your quest to destroy the world around us.” Hale’s haunting lyrics, “Everything I hear/And everything I see/I won’t be afraid/You won’t bother me/All your evil ways/With everything you do/I will turn away/You won’t bother me, ” are delivered with such steady resolve that you can almost picture him turning his back silently afterward. The refrain, “Murder Greed Destruction Exploitation Rape Sex and Violence/Take your money Take your money Take your money” whispered quickly and venemously, came from a list Hale wrote at Fred Freeman’s, the producer of the album, suggestion. About halfway through, “Blind Eye” begins to spin, vocals, guitar, drums, bass and effects coming together in a representation of the chaos and evil present in the world today. Download “Blind Eye” now.

New album comes with a new name – Ed Hale and The Transcendence

New album comes with a new name – Ed Hale and The Transcendence

In anticipation of the brand new album, “All Your Heroes Become Villains,” the alternative rock band Transcendence has officially changed their name to Ed Hale and The Transcendence.
The name change took effect in their back catalog on retailers such as iTunesAmazon & across social media websites. One of the main reasons for this change is to help new fans of the prolific singer-songwriter Ed Hale connect with his body of work recorded by the group.
Some time has passed since the last Transcendence album, “Nothing Is Cohesive” was marked as one of the important breakthrough CDs of 2005 by tastemakers Hellfire. It was during this interim that Ed Hale’s passion for activism took him across the continents to help people, building houses in places like Colombia and Ghana. He also got married, wrote a book, starred in the Transcendent Television series, traveled to Iran as an ambassador, founded the Dying Van Gogh record label and somehow managed time to launch his solo career with the charming, acoustic “Ballad On Third Avenue” album and the hit single “I Walk Alone.” Other band members went on to form successful indie acts too, namely Ex Norwegian and Dreaming In Stereo. Now, the group Ed Hale and The Transcendence is back in action with a new album and fresh name.
Download an mp3 from the upcoming album “All Your Heroes Become Villains,” to be released September 20th on Dying Van Gogh Records.

NEW ALBUM COMES WITH A NEW NAME – ED HALE AND THE TRANSCENDENCE

In anticipation of the brand new album, “All Your Heroes Become Villains,” the alternative rock band Transcendence has officially changed their name to Ed Hale and The Transcendence.
The name change took effect in their back catalog on retailers such as iTunesAmazon & across social media websites. One of the main reasons for this change is to help new fans of the prolific singer-songwriter Ed Hale connect with his body of work recorded by the group.
Some time has passed since the last Transcendence album, “Nothing Is Cohesive” was marked as one of the important breakthrough CDs of 2005 by tastemakers Hellfire. It was during this interim that Ed Hale’s passion for activism took him across the continents to help people, building houses in places like Colombia and Ghana. He also got married, wrote a book, starred in the Transcendent Television series, traveled to Iran as an ambassador, founded the Dying Van Gogh record label and somehow managed time to launch his solo career with the charming, acoustic “Ballad On Third Avenue” album and the hit single “I Walk Alone.” Other band members went on to form successful indie acts too, namely Ex Norwegian and Dreaming In Stereo. Now, the group Ed Hale and The Transcendence is back in action with a new album and fresh name.
Download an mp3 from the upcoming album “All Your Heroes Become Villains,” to be released September 20th on Dying Van Gogh Records.