Stumbling upon the music of SubPixel – the nom de prog­ of New Paltz-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Matt Ross – is a bit like learning that there is an adept practitioner of the dark arts quietly doing his thing right in your own community, maybe several doors down. And you never knew, never imagined. It’s alarming. Think of the children. We all know where prog rock leads.

The new SubPixel album, The Wave, is a stunning feat of expansive, contrapuntal melody, high-detail arrangement and somewhat mind-boggling instrumental prowess. And it is all Ross, but for a few ringers on select tracks. Each composition was recorded both in live-instrument versions and versions programmed by Ross on a dirty eight-bit NES game system chip, and the two versions can be synched for full effect.