FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Mr. Hess's fourth grade band class brings you a progressive rock experience unlike you've ever heard before. Fans and parents will enjoy not one, but two discs of revolutionary progressive rock that push the genre in new directions.

The first single, “Ruminations II,” released at Back to School Night in September, was just a taste of the rich sonic pastiche “Explorations” provides. The second single, “Theme From Explorations (Push)” will debut over the morning announcements sometime in early June, whenever Principal Vickers can find eight and a half minutes to spare.

Anyone who has ever taken a class with Mr. Hess knows he is a visionary, poet, and most importantly, a dreamer. “[Explorations Volume 1] delves deep into themes of the '3 L's' plaguing modern 21st century life: loneliness, longing, and loss,” says Mr. Hess. “[Explorations Volume 2] is an epic fantasy that answers the question, “does all power inherently corrupt?”

In an amazing story too incredible to be made up, Mr. Hess wrote the album over the course of a year in his spare time after his unexpected divorce. Originally meant to be played with a world-class array of progressive rock masters, Hess decided to favor a simpler, more stripped down approach. “[I] wanted to bring to “Explorations” [Volumes 1 and 2] the innocence and tenderness only a classroom of fourth graders could provide,” Hess says. “As is, [the double album] has a real purity to it, one that none of my professional musician friends could ever capture.”

Ever the pusher of envelopes, Mr. Hess recruited third grader Burt McGurik to play timbale on “Explorations Volume 1,” and fifth grader Hannah Sterm to play a variety of Moog synthesizers on “Explorations Volume 2.” “[McGurik]'s family owns a timbale, which the school doesn't have,” explains Hess. “And the soundscape of [Explorations] Volume 1 demands a timbale. Hannah is, and I'm not exaggerating at all when I say this, the best Moog synthesizer player I've ever heard. I had to beg to get her to appear on the record. I'd love to get back in the studio with her once soccer season is over.”

Explorations

Vol. 1

Track 1: Explorations

Track 2: Theme From Explorations (Push)

Track 3: Ruminations I

Track 4: Faith and Fury

Track 5: The Movement of Sound

Track 6: Ruminations II

Track 7: Black

Track 8: White

Track 9: Theme From Explorations (reprise)

Track 10: Nebula (Ruminations III)

Vol. 2

Track 1: The Firelord's Last Stand

Track 2: Birth of a Prophet / Visions of a King

Track 3: Emperor Medveh / The Thuruesian Gambit

Track 4: Echos of The Last Saint's War part 1: The Sword

Track 5: Echos of The Last Saint's War part 2: The Patron

Track 6: Echos of The Last Saint's War part 3: The Gambler

Track 7: Echos of The Last Saint's War part 4: The Battle

Track 8: Echos of The Last Saint's War part 5: The Kingdom

Track 9: Echos of The Last Saint's War part 6: Epilogue

Track 10: Sounds from the Deepwood (Cries of a Victorious Kingdom)

Track 11: The Feathered Staff of Prophet Velena

Track 12: Neferi, Queen Who Would Be King / Betrayal

Track 13: The Third Age of the Dragons (Dawn)