Album Review: 'Protest' by Gene Pritsker & Friends

 
Album Review:
Protest by Gene Pritsker & Friends
Self Release


As is often the habit of most artists and musicians to create their works inspired by hot button events, so does composer, Gene Pritsker, in his newly released album ‘Protest’.  With his multi-palleted compositions and large group of top notch musicians, Pritsker gives his unadulterated musical reaction to the fire and rage that defined the year 2020. Particularly the strife that came out of the murder of George Floyd.

In concept, Pritsker tries to look beyond the rampage and observes the world more broadly.  This is apparent in his works ‘No Justice, No Peace’ and ‘Silence Is Violence’ which both have a steady groove, with an unsteady harmonic progression, maintaining a foundation with an awareness of the troubles that won’t go away.  Other works like “Braver” and the title track “Protest” are more straightforward, with a sense of ambition in accomplishing things despite the darkness.

‘What Matters’ is a direct message to the bigoted and intolerant. With Sophie Dunier’s booming vocals and Pritsker’s acid lyrics, that message is clear. Similar in vain is ‘Complicit’ with The Brooklyn Globetrotter’s pushing words that hold it all together.  The instrumental, ‘Hands Up, Don’t Shoot’ extenuates the din of anger through a persistent and unsteady groove that blends well with its agitated harmonic evolvement, ending with the plug being pulled out from the wall.

‘Love Through Chants A Thousand-Mouths Wide’, is a reaction to the aforementioned work. Very much akin to Prokofiev’s ‘Field of the Dead’ movement from his ‘Alexander Nevsky’ cantata.  Pritsker gives us a sorrowful acoustic guitar solo, beautifully cried out by Warren Nicholson as reciter Erik T. Johnson reflects on the carnage, exclaiming “Now, we finally get to howl like we mean it!”.  But, in Pritsker’s instrumental “Say Their Names”, we put ourselves back together and get back to work.

Situated throughout the recording are three chorales entitled “Mama, I Can’t Breathe”. George Floyd’s infamous quote as he was being knee-choked to death on the street.  All feature poignant electric guitar performances by Pritsker along with affecting recitations by Robert C. Ford and Jim Kempner, who points out “Why do Black Lives Matter? Because they do!”

All of his life, Gene Pritsker has stretched the genre bandwidth in his entire compositional oeuvre, challenging the listener to walk outside their comfort zone and breathe the air of musical abandonment.  His multi pallated ‘Protest’ album does that and makes a solid statement at the same time. It’ll always be speculated whether or not music can save the world.  ‘Protest’ makes a solid attempt.

PROTEST’ by Gene Pritsker

MUSICIANS:
Gene Pritsker, Mat Fieldes, David Rozenblatt, Vesselin Gellev, Sebastian Pritsker, Simon Springer, Alex Bayer,  Borislav Strulev, Joe Abba, Clemens Rofner, Saximus Todd Rewoldt, Sophie Dunér, Magdalena Baczewska, Stefan Danhof, David Hovannisyan, Warren Nicholson, Jose Moura, , Ehab Omar, David Taylor, Francesco Coppola Bove

RECITERS/RAPPERS:
Gene Pritsker, Erik T. Johnson, Robert C. Ford, The Brooklyn Globetrotter, Jim Kempner


- The Off-Kilter Critic