Open Close by Sam Prekop

Sam Prekop’s work over the last 30 years, whether created primarily on his guitar or on his modular synth, is consistent in its powerful melodicism, delicate arrangements and subtle evolution. Prekop’s singular blend of melody, impressionistic lyricism and quietly intricate rhythms are the core of the singular sound of The Sea and Cake. Since 2010’s Old Punch Card, Prekop’s exploration of modular synthesis and electronic atmospheres, has come into its own. His honed skills have crafted sounds that are instantly recognizable, his pieces express real movement. Harmonies bloom with granular detail and through his careful work he is able to convey emotion. Prekop’s inquisitive eye as an artist focuses on uncovering beauty and complexity within simplicity. Open Close is an album that captures the flow and energy of a live performance through the lens of a deft craftsman, an equilibrium of intuitive composition and the excitement of possibility.

Much of the music of Open Close was composed for live performance as Prekop prepared for a series of shows both solo and in collaboration with Laraaji. Prekop had been developing new approaches since the release of Comma in 2020 and his collaborative album Sons Of with John McEntire, incorporating their more rhythm-forward constructions and diverging in new invigorating directions. Open Close melds more abstract textural noise of his modular synth debut Old Punch Card into his lush synthetic landscapes. “In my mind that’s what the modular is really good at doing, adding interesting and less predictable textural elements,” notes Prekop. “That’s only one part of the dialog though. It energizes the other sounds and voices. Along with the steady rhythmic pulses I’ve been gravitating towards, the juxtaposition of those elements becomes a form of architecture within abstraction, just by imposing them on each other and layering them in a precise way.”

The music of Open Close brims with an exhilarating array of textural combinations and melodic turns. Longform pieces like title track “Open Close” and centerpiece “Light Shadow” build entire metropolises, dense with elements that dot the stereo field with vibrant, glimmering lights. The sound world of Open Close is Prekop’s richest, most lush compositions yet they still sound more spacious and expansive, than ever before. Acting as a near-facsimile to creating space for improvisers, the pieces leave air for singular voices to propel the pieces forward with melodic motion, often surrounded by gorgeous, swirling ornaments comping around them. Prekop plays predictability against surprise, the steady lilt of a hi-hat or kick thud connecting pieces that traverse entire continents of varied landscape. “Open Close” flutters with interjections that feel like question marks before oozing into a head-nodding thud. Bass-heavy “Para” moves with magmatic grace with French horn-like undulations skittering on the horizon. A rhythmic opening on “A Book” spends the rest of the piece slowly unraveling into blissful polyrhythms and serene arpeggiations.

The music of Sam Prekop is defined by his signature curiosity and his ability to mold and refine that curiosity into a wholly unique sound. His process in naming album Open Close mirrors his creative practice and the worlds he builds across the album: “I like simple words that become complicated if you think of them more than a second or two, beyond face value. And Open Close could be: close as in ‘close to you’ or close as in ‘close the door.’ If it gives everything away too quickly, then I’m not interested.” Each movement across Open Close is replete with simple gestures that suggest new complexities with Prekop’s careful arrangements. Open Close unearths new, soulfully human sounds from synthetic textures precisely juxtaposed, its subtle contrasts in texture and rhythm are a free-flowing celebration of sonics as stunning as they are ephemeral.

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