Twenty-six years into his career, progressive rocker Alex Hall, who records under the moniker Alex Hall’s Figurehead, has just announced that he’ll release his new EP, Ledgewood, on Oct. 28.
Though his background is in Northeast Ohio-based jam bands, Hall, who now lives in Cincinnati, currently plays progressive rock and penned Ledgewood’s songs and lyrics while still living in Cleveland. He plays guitar and some keyboard parts on the EP and handles vocals as well. Bassist Tim Wilderoder, who plays on Hall’s last release, 2020’s Johnny, returns for Ledgewood along with longtime collaborators Chet Johnson (drums) and Kevin Cooper (organ).
The EP was co-produced and recorded by Pete Drivere (Ampreon Recorder) and Eric Cronstein (the Tone Shoppe). Wilderoder also served as a co-producer on the EP while Adam Boose of Cauliflower Audio handled mastering, and Hall recorded parts of the album in Youngstown.
“The apostrophe in the ‘Alex Hall’s’ part of Alex Hall’s Figurehead is a contraction—not a possessive,” says Hall in an press release. “I am the figurehead for the music, meaning I have little power over it, but am instead sort of like a vessel. At the same time, making this art is kind of a figurehead in the sense of what you might find on the prow of an old ship, which is to say, it helps me ward off evil.”
He says the album title is a reference to a place he once went to get away and write music by himself. It’s pictured on the EP’s cover.
“It was there the track ‘Flood’ was written, though it went through some changes over time,” He says. “The song addresses the tendency of doubt or distraction to flood in and overtake one’s best intentions — artistic or otherwise.”
Hall means for the song “Useless,” a Moody Blues-like number that features soaring vocals, to be taken sarcastically.
“I have had several different types of jobs that really seemed to lack productivity, but the people around me seemed to feel that what they were doing was so important that they would go online and say they were thrilled to announce they were taking on some new role that really lacked any kind of real meaning,” he says. “Hence the line ‘I’m thrilled to announce that I’m useless.’ I suppose there is some self-doubt in there too, but the song’s lyrics circle back to a positive affirmation in the end.”
The EP ends with a reprise of the “Useless” intro that comes in suddenly “like a punch in the face,” as Hall puts it. He describes his intent to allow the EP’s darker theme to re-emerge via the reprise as “a testament to the idea that darkness might still be lurking, even after light has been restored.”
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