"Let Go" by Edison Glass, Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Edison Glass was a Christian indie band from Long Island, New York. Forming in 1998 as Mannafest (not to be confused with the Christian rapper Manafest), the band released three records. Then they released an EP called Starting Over as Edison. Starting Over produced a hit, "Forever," that found its way to RadioU and its video to RadioU's sister music television channel TVU. The video for "Forever" is no longer available online, but it was one of the typical low budget videos of live footage with studio sound often played on TVU at the time by independent bands or low budget labels.  

SLEEPWALKING. After releasing Starting Over Edison signed with Credential Records and changed their name to Edison Glass. The band derived their name from the inventor Thomas Edison and the composer Philip Glass. As Edison, the band equated creating music as a kind of experiment in the garage. The music business for them them was "1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." But adding Philip Glass to the band's title added sophistication. Along with John Adams, Glass is considered to be a minimalist composer, reacting to the avant-garde musical movements throughout the 20th century. Glass's works are accessible modern Classical works, and the composer has scored several films with his signature sparse style. Besides Edison Glass, the minimalist style of Glass and Adams seems to have influenced other Indie artists in the mid-'00s such as Deas Vail and Copeland among others. Edison Glass released their first record A Burn or a Shiver with three singles in addition to a reworked version of "Forever." The album was successful and the band played the major Christian festivals.

OPEN YOUR HEART, AND LET IT SING! Edison Glass released Time Is Fiction, a follow up to A Burn or a Shiver in 2008 with the lead single "Let Go," which was also part of a four-song EP titled Let Go released the year before. They toured the U.S. with Blindside who were promoting their Black Rose EP in 2007 leading up to the delayed release of Time Is Fiction. They released a video for "Let Go" complete with a phone number for fans to dial to leave messages for the band. But after the charting on TVU's Most Wanted, the band disappeared. But disappearing--never confirming a break up, leaving Wikipedia pages with over a decade of silence is the norm for bands of this era-- a soft break up rather than a messy musical divorce. Perhaps it was fuel prices and the economy collapse that killed many bands or maybe it was the robbery during the Blindside tour, but Edison Glass has been mostly forgotten in the scene. Whatever it was, Edison Glass left us with some interesting music and two interesting videos: "This House" and "Let Go." Today's song is unconventional, not following the typical verse-chorus-verse structure but rather packing the energy of a verse and exploding into a finale. The video is reminiscent of the cheap videos on Fuse when Indie Rock was king. It's a fun part stop-motion animation video/ part live-action video. So today, enjoy an indie forgotten gem. You may have failed in the past or missed an opportunity. Today, we should let go of it. 

 

Read “Let Go” by Edison Glass on Genius.