That Eric Alper

For most musicians, getting to record with members of the legendary King Crimson would be intimidating enough. For Jacksonville, Florida-based guitarist/singer Andy Toomey, it raised a dilemma that was even more daunting: figuring out something for them to actually play.

That’s the scenario that transpired early last year, when Toomey happened to notice that Crimson über-bassist Tony Levin and his offshoot project, Stick Men, were going to be playing a concert in Toomey’s native Jacksonville. On little more than a whim, he reached out to Levin and asked if he and his crew would be interested in doing a session together when the band hit town. The answer was an enthusiastic yes—leading to an immediate freakout when Toomey realized he had no idea what they’d be playing.

“Like the dog who caught the car, I panicked,” he recalls. “How could I write music that would be worthy of these amazing players in a few short weeks?”

Fortunately, he found the answer in February Album Writing Month (FAWM.ORG), an annual exercise that challenges songwriters to come up with 14 new tunes in 28 days. Toomey managed a full 20, and the feedback he received from the effort helped him to whittle that bumper crop down to six top-shelf compositions for his esteemed guests to sink their teeth into.

The resulting EP, Perseus Calling, shows just how fruitful Toomey’s process was. Its sextet of dreamy prog numbers proves the perfect vehicle for the celebrated talents of Levin (bass and Chapman Stick), Pat Mastelotto (drums) and Markus Reuter (Touch Guitars and loops)—all alumni of Crimson as well as compadres in Levin’s Stick Men. The record is full of symmetrical guitar lines and purposefully skewed beat patterns, overlaid with Toomey’s highly present and declaratory vocals.

The backing tracks were cut in one day at Jacksonville’s Endangered Wise Men Recording Studios (with gold-record-winning engineer Rick Grice), whereupon Toomey had another 24 hours to write and record all the lyrics. The end product certainly doesn’t come across as rushed or underthought: Toomey’s wordplay on tracks like “Hater” and “Dada” is minimalist but meaningful, and the title track even draws the suggestive silhouette of a narrative about a space probe on an ill-fated mission. As an overall package, the record makes for an auspicious debut by Toomey on his new label, Iapetus.

It helps that Toomey has a bit of a history with Levin, whom he met through the bassist’s keyboardist brother, Peter: Together with drummer Jerry Marotta, they had all recorded several tracks together in 2020 that wound up on Toomey’s albums Paper Heart and Budget Soul. But Toomey himself was no slouch going in. The definition of a highly trained pro, he holds a BFA and an MFA in music composition, with a BFA in classical guitar thrown in for good measure. Since putting out his first album in 1995, he’s written and recorded over 300 original songs. On the performing front, he’s a true Renaissance man, having played guitar in his blues band, The Andy Toomey Trio, and bass in his eponymous jazz-piano trio. That’s not to mention touring Spain in the metal outfit Jerguistas y Borrachos, singing in the U2 tribute Bonomania and playing drums in the Led Zeppelin tribute Wearing & Tearing.

The year 2025 will bring the release of a second EP Masterpiece recorded in August with Markus Reuter back on touch guitar and loops and the amazing Zach Alford (Bowie/NIN, and many others) on drums. For now, we have Perseus Calling, and the reminder it brings that a little serendipity can work wonders. Or to put it another way, if you have a dream, Stick with it.