OLD PUNCH CARD (BEAUTIFULLY NOISY, JAGGED, SYNTHESIZER ALBUM)

Sam Prekop is known to most as the singer and songwriter of The Sea and?Cake. He is a painter of some renown, a photographer and in addition he?has released two solo albums of pop songs infused with his own blend of?African and Brazilian guitar rhythms. Old Punch Card takes a dramatically?unexpected turn away from his past works. Prekop described the move?thus, Id have to say this record is pretty much unlike anything else Ive?done. Theres some relation to music I made for my book Photographs but?really only in instrumentation. The intro to The Sea and Cakes David Bowie?cover of Sound and Vision, on One Bedroom is an early precedent. The?most significant difference, is that Ive left the confines of song structure.??Taking inspiration from early music concrete and electronic music, the BBC?Radiophonic Workshop, Nuno Canavarro, Raymond Scott, David Behrman,?and free improvisation, Old Punch Card is a beautifully noisy, jagged yet?stately album of synthesizer music. The ideas and implementation of Old?Punch Card (the album title alluding to the electronic, faintly mechanic?origins of the music) were the result of an entirely new challenge: to do?something completely different from anything else hes ever created. To?facilitate this end, Prekop implemented a series of strict guidelines for the?recording of the album. No vocals, no guitar (though he slipped in this?regard on one track), and no beats.?Most of the sound material is generated by a modular synthesizer. By its?very nature, it excels at some things and not at others. Its very difficult to?play a conventional chord, while on the other hand, it excels at creating?completely unanticipated sounds and is rather effective when it comes?to chance composing strategies. The album was recorded entirely in?Prekops home studio and monitored on headphones, allowing him to?focus on the texture and dynamic of the music. Every nuance was hyper?exposed and therefore had to be considered. The end result is a record of?strangely serene beauty, leading the listener down a myriad of otherworldly?paths, all the while serving as a unique path for the musician himself. ??TRACK LISTING:?1. Old Punch Card?2. Array Wicket?3. Knitting Needles?4. Brambles?5. Tell Work?6. November September?7. A Places?8. Lazy House?9. The Silhouettes