(2020) Prophecy Playground - Comfort Zone


Review:
…Prophecy Playground is a project by singer/ songwriter Or Izekson, founded in Tel Aviv in 2018. It has the feel of a concept album in terms of a beginning, middle and end structure, exemplified by the music and not by a definite theme that is pursued – though the listener is free to add the narrative. The opening Engineered Loneliness is what hooked me and floated me back to those days of light strings, prominent cellos, summery guitars. Light and yet a sense of dark skies and a touch of ennui. The languorous or grey thoughts clear when we hear the opening chords of Comfort Zone, a bright tune that belies the song’s message that despite doing something to change, change doesn’t happen if you miss the point.The similarity of approach to these two tracks, and indeed virtually all of the album, to Nick Drake is not an accident as Or is currently performing a tribute solo act to Drake’s Pink Moon. Spirit Yawn, also very Drake-esque, starts with the clear acoustic guitar and the strings coming in from underneath. …this track, along with most of the others, are self-reflecting, unconsciously right for these self-confinement times. Is the singer thinking, perhaps tricking himself, that his lifestyle that he thinks is the best, is, in fact, not at all what he needs. Similar ideas come through on Occasional Blues, another cheery melody carrying the message of ‘Don’t let yourself get buried in the past’ even though ‘you sometimes feel like a stranger to this age’. Yeah, don’t get buried – listen to the music and go with the flow instead. Even though iTunes cannot categorise, and there is always a danger of pigeonholing bands, there is certainly more than a whiff of psych-folk about the album. This attribution is clearly present with Kevin Ayers’ Eleanor’s Cake (which ate her) (from Ayers’ 1969 album, Joy of Toy), a track that sits perfectly here. Across the album elements of English bucolic poke through, possibly via the intermediary of Drake, and swirl around with the sprites of the guitars, the subtle lush backdrops of strings, and with the lyrics that may mean something or may mean nothing.





Tracklist:



Media Report:
Genre: acoustic, indie-folk
Source: CD
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits