Throughout his long career, Neal Morse has often been a musical collaborator, usually with some of the greatest prog musicians worldwide. This time, Morse has brought that collaborative spirit closer to home. The new album by Neal Morse & The Resonance – entitled “No Hill For A Climber” will be released on 8th November 2024, and the title is taken from a resonant line in Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Demon Copperhead.
Now, the band is pleased to share the second single from the album, “Thief,” one of the most unique-sounding tracks on the album, as Neal explains: “Thief had an interesting writing process. I woke up from a very deep afternoon nap with this idea of people singing ‘thief’ in these high voices and then saying stuff in between. It was really weird. But I thought it might be cool. So I wrote the beginning part and then had no idea where to go. I phoned Chris Riley who lives close by and he came over and he had the idea to put in the kind of evil-sounding middle section. The drum beat has a kind of hip-hop feel which was not my idea at all. I had written it with a swing feel, and when Joe Ganzelli came in to do a drum track on it, that was his idea! I think it really makes the song special and different. Neal Morse with a hip-hop feel? Love it!”
The album will be available as Limited 2CD Digipak (incl. a second disc of instrumentals), Standard CD Jewelcase, Gatefold 2LP & as Digital Album. Pre-order it now HERE.
The album has its roots at the end of 2023, as Morse explains: “I started thinking about what I was going to do in 2024, and my wife suggested that I should think about doing something with the amazingly talented younger guys that we have here locally – like Chris Riley, Andre Madatian and Philip Martin. I knew just how good they were from playing with them at our Christmas concerts and other events.”
These local musicians were supplemented by Joe Ganzelli (drums) and Johnny Bisaha, who performs much of the lead vocal work, as Morse explains: “While composing ‘No Hill For A Climber’, I heard a lot of higher range vocals –so I contacted Johnny Bisaha, who came over, listened to the music. loved it and started singing for me. And I immediately thought, ‘Oh man, he’s the guy!’”.

To coincide with the announcement, the track ‘All The Rage’ has been launched with a brand new video. Watch it below.
Neal comments: “’All the Rage’ was the second track that I recorded with the guys. I had written it with them in mind and we tracked it pretty quickly. We wanted more of a live feel so we did quite a bit of it without a click track, which became a bit of a challenge for me during the piano solo section! I am super happy with the way the song came out and I really feel like you can hear the energy of the band in the track!”