Epicycle

Epicycle is brothers Ellis and Tom Clark. Highly influenced from The Beach Boys, George Harrison to Pink Floyd. Their songs bow to the '60s and '70s, yet retain a modern sense of recording and an even more modern sense of irony. The band  turn their love and homage of that music into crafty and sweet pop confections, bright, not pedantic history lessons.  Whatever they play, Epicycle makes music with a soft and yielding sensitivity, playing a range of songs that sound like everything from confectionery wisps to hard psychedelics.

Although the history of Epicycle is quite extensive, it was in 1995 that they built their own studio and recorded 2 albums “Orange” & “Swirl”.  Both of these CDs received high critical praise from many of the world’s top music critics, including Chicago Tribune rock critic Greg Kot’s 2002 “The cream of Chicago's scene”. Check out our review section for more.   

Epicycle has also developed quite a reputation for producing and performing on other artist’s records such as The Chamber String’s “Gospel Morning”, Nikki Sudden’s “Red Brocade, All three of Kevin Tihista’s albums released on Atlantic, Parasol, and Sony (Japan) and June & The Exitwound’s “A Little More Haven Hamilton Please”.  The latter being Parasol Record’s biggest selling release to date.  They have done session work with Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), John Ashton (The Psychedelic Furs). 

And they have invited many of Chicago’s finest musicians to perform on their albums such as Paul Mertens from Brian Wilson’s band (reeds & alto flute), Eric Remschneider (cellos) known for his string work with The Smashing Pumpkins & Filter, and Merrit Lear (violins) who now sings for the band The Assassins who recently signed with Arista Records.     

Epicycle has been doing a steady string of dates at some of Chicago’s best music venues. The band recently opened for Glenn Tilbrook last year and in 2003  for Dave Davies of The Kinks to an enthusiastic sold out house.   Epicycle has recently received airplay on WXRT Local Anesthetic and NPR Open Mic.

An interesting side note;  Epicycle’s earlier releases from the days of vinyl are sought hard by record collectors and are commanding an average price of $250 for an original rare vinyl copy.  As a result, this early material has just been reissued (Jan. 2005) for the first time by Rave Up Records in Italy as a special LP collector’s edition on 180 vinyl.  It is available on our website and through Rave Up.. 

Bolstered by the recent success of many years of hard work, Epicycle will continue performing their highly praised live shows which are currently showcasing new songs that will be included on their next upcoming album.    

Thanks for reading…. Enjoy the Music!