Prison Escapee - Locket and Au Revoir
The
name Erik David Hidde has chosen to adopt for his musical project, Prison
Escapee, is more than just a stage and recording persona. Instead, it’s an
intelligent nod to Hidde’s description of his own music as “field recordings”,
along with other elements like post-rock and electronica, which makes the case.
It is a clear reference to the relatively low-fi approach he takes to the
recordings = the songs are cut in his living room, but they never betray any
loss of quality due to the modesty of their budget or surroundings. The term
field recordings, though, has connotations reaching back further and there’s a
discernibly traditional air emerging at moments during the songs “Locket” and
“Au Revoir”. The two tracks are quite different in many respects, but both
share a common grounding in what has made popular song so effective over the
centuries – strong and certain melodies. Prison Escapee’s more modern touch
comes with his talent for filling out these melodies with synthesizer,
post-production effects applied in just the right way, and post rock
affectations carry the material to whole other level.
“Locket”
has a memorable build reliant on a fat, repetitious synthesizer line filling
out more and more as the song progresses. There are other musical elements that
soon come into the frame – there’s a solid bass line and accompanying
percussion that never leaves a busy presence on the song but, rather, achieves
a consistent see saw effect that holds everything down. Both of the songs here
deal with the personal – in often general ways anyone can relate to and, at
other times, with deft flashes of imagery surely all his own. “Locket” artfully
conveys the longing that defines much of the track and much of the
responsibility of its ultimate effects comes from Hidde’s well turned vocal.
He’s a talented singer who never needs to cheapen the composition with needless
histrionics and even the light treatment his voice receives isn’t enough to
compromise the immediacy of his singing.
“Au
Revoir” is even less cluttered than the aforementioned song and focuses much
more on conventional instruments like piano. There’s a startling intimacy to
this song and much of it comes from the interplay before the piano playing and
Hidde’s voice. There’s less post production performed on this song and the way
it allows his vocal to be much freer increases the emotional impact of the cut.
These are two powerful examples of what he’s capable of and certainly evidence
of the excellence we can expect from him in the future. “Locket” and “Au Revior”
are fascinating efforts any serious musical devotee is likely to respond to and
have a fiercely personal spirit quite unlike anything else on the independent
scene today.
William
Elgin
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