Clouds scud across a storm-wracked sky, but while briefly exposing rare shards of blue, most often, blacker, gloomier grays lurk behind the mists.

Sometimes a work of art enables us to articulate our thoughts and feelings in times of upheaval and chaos. In an era when the world has seemingly come off its hinges, an album like Hoping Against Hope offers listeners the consolation that they are not alone. But more than that, this intellectually complex work offers tools to help us make sense, affectively at least, of the whole sorry mess.

Thinking Plague is a storied band, whose thirty-five year history has seen it cleave consistently to the extreme limits of what is possible to do within rock music. Much of the music it released has owed more to traditions external to rock, such as folk, chamber music, and particularly, the avant-garde tradition of twentieth-century classical music.

Thinking Plague are often cited as the leading light of the American arm of the ‘Rock In Opposition’ movement, genre-defying and, above all, unique.

The arrangements we hear on Hoping Against Hope are those we will hear live. Even when singer Elaine di Falco’s accordion is written and recorded in multiple voices, the parts are realizable by a single instrument.

Leader and composer Mike Johnson and newest member Bill Pohl’s tightly scored twin guitars are panned out wide enough for the listener to balance the pursuit of an individual voice against the ensemble texture, which is the creative focus, a carefully crafted polyphony served by each instrumental voice. Pohl’s addition brings a second electric guitar to the texture for the first time, enabling more sinuous scoring, rather than making the sound more ‘rock’.

There is a familiar vocabulary in play, a harmonic palette and a phraseology that has evolved considerably over the band’s lifespan without extreme points of rupture, despite major changes and sometimes long gaps between releases; this is clearly the same band that we heard in the 1980s, but Johnson is writing from a creative position that is fruitfully removed from that he occupied even four years ago. As demanding as this music may be, it is made to sound easy, and more importantly, beautiful.

Thinking Plague has been releasing impossible to categorize albums to a devoted fan-base for over 30 years.

In This Life, originally released in 1989, was the group's 3rd album and their first CD release after two previous albums that flew under the radar of most listeners.

Originally released by the ReR label, this was the first album to really bring this superb US band to a wider audience. It was their last to feature singer Susanne Lewis, who lends a convincing  air to the menace of some of the lyrics. It is also their last album to feature Bob Drake as a full member of the band.

Just over twenty five years have passed since I first heard this album upon its release, but what I originally wrote about it still rings quite true, even if I didn't anticipate that the band would still be a vital force two and a half decades later: 'Combine the sound of the 5uu's with the Art Bears, add a (non Dagmar like) female singer & woodwinds, & you come up with this unique U.S. slant on the European art rock song sound. What a great album; one of 1989's best releases!'

It comes back into print now for the first time in years. The two 'bonus tracks', which were taken from their first two albums and can be found in superior form on Early Plague Years have been removed and this presents the album as the band originally planned it. The CD is now shorter, but much more focused this way and a more coherent, single work. It has been newly remastered  by Mark Fuller from the original stereo mixdown master, as overseen by the band.

"Thinking Plague lays down some of the most rhythmically complex, texturally inventive, and melodically challenging popular music of the last 30 years, and somehow makes it all sound easy and natural." – All Music Guide

Decline and Fall is the long awaited sixth album from a group who personifies the term 'beloved underground favorites'. From the group's beginnings as a duo doing basement recording experiments nearly 30 years ago until now, Thinking Plague has always had a strong vision of their unique take on progressive rock music. Despite the very long lifespan of the band and the many years between records, the basic sound of the group and instrumentation was set early and the years since have seen interesting variations on their sound, from the stripped down approach of the earliest work to the deep layering of electronic sounds and samples of their last album.

Decline and Fall strips back a lot of the 'studio-isms' and more than ever, sounds like the work of a really powerful band. The album adds a few other new surprises, most notably the addition of wonderful vocalist Elaine Di Falco who fits right into what may be the band's most demanding job. She sings with great poise and control the band's hallmark melodic lines - passages that would trip up a lesser vocalist. Also new is keyboardist/drummer Kimara Sajn who plays with tremendous authority on both instruments (although just before finishing up the album, the group added drummer Robin Chestnut who appears on one track). Returning are long-term members Mark Harris on saxes and clarinets, Dave Willey on bass and Mike Johnson, the band's guitarist, leader and composer.

A new album by Thinking Plague is always an event; working slowly and unwaveringly, the group has released a handful of brilliant, art-rock classics. Decline and Fall is the latest of them.

A History of Madness presents a further maturation of the band’s sound. Its warm, organic sound is due in part to the inclusion of acoustic instruments in the mix, which is also interwoven with electronic sounds and samples. The CD includes two soundscape pieces, “War on Terra” and “Le Gouffre”, that leader Mike Johnson maintains: “are really a departure for me, or a beginning, as it were, in that they are my first really serious forays into the realm of semi-composed, sonic environments rather than organized pieces or songs." The line up is Mike Johnson (guitars), Deborah Perry (vocals), Dave Willey (bass and accordions), Dave Shamrock (formerly of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) (drums), Mark Harris (reeds) and Matt Mitchell (piano, harmonium, synths) with contributions from other musicians, including Dave Kerman (percussion), Ron Miles (trumpet), Mark McCoin (samples and soundscapes) and others. The CD’s magic reveals itself on multiple listenings, in exploring the work’s threads like currents in a stream. However, a single listen will suffice to leave most spellbound.

For years Mike Johnson was certain that the mastertapes for Thinking Plague's first two albums were long lost. They recently surfaced and made Early Plague Years possible. Thinking Plague grew out of basement recording experiments by Mike Johnson and Bob Drake in the early 80's. They released their 1st lp, ...a thinking plague in 1984 on their own label in a hand-painted edition of 500. They then disbanded the original version of the band & formed a new version, featuring Susanne Lewis & others. This band released Moonsongs in 1986, which Option called "stunning" upon its release.

Newly remastered by Bob Drake, with astonishingly improved sound, this marks the 1st time that these vinyl rarities have been available in over a decade. You can hear the development of the band grow from their roots into the sound that could only be theirs.

In 1999 and 2000, for the first time, Thinking Plague hit the road, playing clubs and festivals outside of the Denver area. Their final show was professionally recorded at NEARfest 2000 and this is that show.
The band were a dynamo, fusing great subtlety to emotionally devastating and powerful musical material. It includes a large number of pieces from their release In Extremis, as well as tracks from In This Life (the stunning Love being a particular highlight for me), The Early Plague Years and even a track by Hamster Theatre (three members of Thinking Plague also are in Hamster Theatre).
The original multi-track tapes were mixed and mastered by Bob Drake and this is about as definitive a modern-day live Thinking Plague experience as there can be! Recommended!

"This is a live set from Nearfest in June 2000, where Thinking Plague played an intimate set for an appreciative audience. Due to the complexity of their material these live renditions naturally end up sounding a bit different from their studio versions - but different enough to be worth a listen in their own way.

Naturally, the band's then-latest studio release In Extremis is heavily represented, and there's also three songs from In This Life and two songs (well, one song and some extracts) from Moonsongs, so a reasonable spread of the group's career is represented; plus you have some on-the-spot improvisations in the form of Hamster Dance and a piano solo.

The setlist is carefully chosen and delivered in such a way to provide a varied experience which flows quite well, with even songs from very different stages of the group's development fitting together naturally. The recording quality is also excellent, making this a worthwhile pick for any RIO fan." – progarchives

When a band has gone 9 years between releases, I suppose it's fair to call this new release "greatly anticipated"! In Extremis includes leader/composer Mike Johnson, Bob Drake, Dave Kerman as well as a host of new names, all of whom turn in tremendous performances on vocals, guitars, multiple reeds, accordion, keyboards, bass, drums and more. Tuneful, well composed & strongly structured, this is very much in the vanguard of the RIO art-rock song style, along with peers such as U Totem, the 5uu's & the Art Bears.