The music on Prophecy was made during an intense period of climate-related disasters in my home of Australia last summer that seemed to represent the beginning of a strange new way of existing on Earth.
The pieces were developed in the space of four weeks at my home, and then captured in a single day of studio performances. As a result, the music is as much an assemblage of moments from the days leading up to the recording (stepping into my garden to be greeted by a dark pink sun against a brown sky, and ash gently raining on me) as it is a reflection of how I felt in the moment playing them live in the studio.
In the short time since, we’ve gone from staying inside and wearing face masks because the city was completely surrounded by fire, and the air filled with acrid smoke, to staying indoors to stop the spread of a global pandemic.
Prophecies often foretell of the end of the world, and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say things have felt a little apocalyptic down here for the last several months. Yet, despite decades old studies predicting catastrophic bushfire seasons in Australia, we’ve been living in an era where science seems be have become an ideological choice for those elected to represent our best interests.
Put simply, I believe recent events are all part of the broader theme of sustainability. In the face of this, it’s inevitable to question the very purpose of making music, and how it can contribute to the discourse at a time like this. I’m not a scientist, nor a policy maker. I don’t even consider myself to be an activist. I’m a musician. Music has been the prism of my existence as long as I can remember, and I think at its heart music should be a form of storytelling.
It seems to me that humans are inherently dynamic in nature, and that our current culture in many ways has stalled in its dynamism. We’re searching for a narrative to direct us in the face of an uncertain future. For some this means retreating to the past, turning inward, and for others, it means looking forward, opening up. I’ve come to realise that the pursuit of performing solo over the last few years has been my unconscious response to the feeling of cultural stasis that’s pervaded the world as a result.
I often think of something that the great saxophonist/composer Wayne Shorter said:
“Play and write music the way you want the world to be”.
If nothing else, I’d like my music to present the possibility of a way a being; a space that is dynamic in its intent – drawing on the language of the past, yet responsive to the moment, interpreted with tools of the present, and open to the narrative of the future being one that has yet to be told.
Despite the seismic shifts that society is currently experiencing, I sense an exciting opportunity for progress rather than retreat, and as an artist, I can only contribute the best way I know how; to make music in the way I want the world to be.
Laurence Pike
Sydney, March 2020
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Prophecy is Laurence Pike’s third solo album in as many years, following Distant Early Warning (2018), and last year’s acclaimed Holy Spring.
Created during the height Australia’s recent catastrophic fires, the music on Prophecy adopts the working formula of ‘one-take’ studio performances for drum kit and sampler; channelling the moment through Pike’s singular, organic use of electronics, and intuitively constructed arrangements.
Pike has been operating across the electronic, rock and jazz music worlds for the better part of two decades with dozens of critically acclaimed releases to his name as part of forward-thinking groups such as PVT, Triosk and Szun Waves (with Luke Abbott and Portico Quartet’s Jack Wyllie), as well as collaborations with the likes of legendary jazz pianist Mike Nock, Bill Callahan, Burnt Friedman, Sarah Blakso and D.D Dumbo.
Pike recently joined avant-rock band Liars, who are currently working on a new studio album.
“Music that speaks to the creative development of an artist relinquishing his boundaries, unafraid to step beyond the obvious in search of the unknown. Prophecy is the album for our times - radically questioning what we expect from ourselves as we acclimatise to a completely new relationship with planet Earth”
Angus Andrew (Liars)
“His solo work is a marvel, radiating the absolute confidence of a man in command of his instruments and making very difficult things seems inevitable. He creates a hyper-aware universe of constant, new, undefinable sound, that only he could make. He expresses himself through performance with a commitment that goes far beyond energy and will... Holy Spring is a mature and enthralling work that gives us real ritual. Ceremonies taken seriously that generate real power”
the Quietus
“Full of morphing grooves and moods of imminent revelation, it’s a quicksilver delight”
4/5 The Observer
“A sumptuous, sonic world… rich with spiritual under-tones”
4/5 Mojo
“Celestial minimalism… A puzzle that has endless permutations”
8/10 Uncut
“Holy Spring is an intoxicating gem”
8/10 The Line Of Best Fit
“The wonder of Pike’s work has nothing to do with the brilliance of playing per se, but that, in real time, he heard and realised six complete musical experiences that keep the listener transfixed for 40 minutes”
4.5/5 Sydney Morning Herald
Contemporary Album of the Month
4/5 The Guardian
