Christian rockers Icharus Rising find time to produce dynamic new album

By Heather Crabtree
The Entertainer

ALBANY — Since last fall, the Albany band Icharus Rising has been fighting for time to meet a self-set spring release deadline for its upcoming album, due out tentatively in late March.

The trio meets once a week, and sometimes not that often, in a studio at guitarist Casey Meservey’s house. Practice times depend on trying to balance their personal lives.

Lyricist Rod Baney, 32, and vocalist and guitarist Matt Mills, 21, are married with children and work. Mills and his wife are also working on their house with Habitat for Humanity.

Meservey, 26, not only works but is involved with several other area bands. He is the guitarist for Christian rap artist Benjimen, and will tour with the artist in March and May.

In addition to Benjimen and his work with Icharus Rising, Meservey also plays for Alysium Fuse and as the backup bassist for Corvallis band Myndissent.

Despite the limited session times, Baney, Mills and Meservey are putting together an album that is sure to appeal to a broad audience.

Rooted in the Christian rock genre, the seven-track album with two bonus tracks is a collective mix of electronica and acoustic music, influenced by artists such as Shawn McDonald, Enigma, Linkin’ Park and various hip hop artists.

The amount of acoustic and electronic sounds varies by the song. On some songs, Meservey mixed natural instrument sounds in with the instruments they play.

One example is “Breath of Life,” the first demo posted on the band’s MySpace page. Because they used traditional sounds, it’s hard to tell that the majority of the instrumentation was created using Reason and Fruity Loops, two digital music programs. Instead, the song has a distinct rock, Linkin’ Park feel to it, which should appeal to anyone who enjoys the rock — not just Christian rock — genre.

In contrast, two recent additions to the band’s MySpace page clearly use synthesized sounds.

The intro to “My Heart” rises like an ocean wave and crashes gracefully into Mills’ vocal entrance. The digital sounds continue at an ambient level throughout the vocals and chorus to mingle with ease with the acoustics.

“Fly” takes a slightly different turn than “My Heart.” The intro is dramatically acoustic and flows into a heavier level of electronica, dominating the live instruments. In addition, Meservey mixed the track with a digital flute through the chorus and a vocal chorus, which creates an ethereal ambiance.

“I like the sound of chorus,” Meservey said about the mix. “It’s why I like ‘Fly,’ because it has the chorus singing. If I could, I’d use it on every song, but then it wouldn’t be special.”

Although the mix is well-crafted, it is Baney’s lyrics that give the music power. The so-called “Poet of the Heart” draws upon life experiences to convey messages about the human condition.

In the song “Breath of Life,” Baney explores struggling through the frustrations of life and finding hope in Christ.

“I have made a lot of bad decisions in my past that have caused me pain, and I have had things done to me that I had no control over that caused me pain,” Baney said. “‘Breath of Life’ is kind of about understanding that with love comes pain because of our imperfections. There is pain in this world and we see it and fail daily, but finding hope and peace can carry us through.”

The stories within the lyrics are meant to touch lives and explore healing but not preach, because God is a personal thing, Baney said.

Instead the trio wants to get their music out to simply touch people’s lives.

“All three of us have been through a lot,” Mills said. “(Music) puts us in a situation so that people know how we’re feeling.”

The name Icharus Rising also is an expression of life and faith.

The idea for the band’s name stems from the song “Worlds Apart,” by Jars of Clay, which briefly talks about the rise and fall of the mythical Icarus (traditional spelling).

In the myth, Icarus and his father, Daedalus, were imprisoned by King Minos in the tower on Crete. His father planned to escape the tower and island by constructing wings out of feathers and wax for him and his son. When the time came for them to escape, he told Icarus not to fly too high because the heat of the sun would melt the wax. Feeling secure in his flight, Icarus began to ignore the guidance of his father and flew higher. The sun softened the wax and his feathers came off. Icarus fell to his death.

Although the story ends in tragedy, the idea behind Icharus Rising is that everyone is knocked down by pride, but God will lift them back up.

Check out the band’s MySpace page at www.my

space.com/icharusrising to listen to the three demo tracks and for updates on the album’s release.