ICNCLST/
Release Date: August 20, 2024
After recasting the blues and its rock and roll offspring in the image of the brilliantly wrecked American psyche on the game-changing Dealey Plaza Blues that arrived with a heat shimmer intensity last summer, Mortal Prophets' John Beckmann, ever restless, ever prolific, is back with Bang Bang a 7-song EP of sinuously psychedelic, rock-tinged pop that, while arriving in the late summer months of 2024, bears all the traits of a late-summer classic.
Produced by David Sisko and mastered by Mike Tucci, with session master Gerald Menke (The Dixons, Dent May) lending his unique guitar talents while Sisko deftly fills in on multiple instruments as needed, ICNCLST/'s every sound, as on its predecessor, is impeccably in place. Consider:
The trippy and tricky "Flowers For You," all reverbed vocal echoes, a crying pedal-steel and sitar-kissed atmospherics resulting in a post-Nuggets classic crafted with the mess of our modern times in mind, it’s a cut that somehow manages to chime and charm as much as it haunts and disturbs around the edges.
"The Sun Is On Fire" channels the escapist impulses of peak-era Doors and cants them through a best-of-the-80s filter with the same effortless panache that DPB taught us to expect. Propulsive, atmospheric, and not a little fraught, the track rings with a classic rock-n-roll fatalism, no surprise given lines like “the sun is on fire and we live to die.”
The slyly remarkable "Bang Bang," soaked in urban intrigue like the best spy-themed B-movie you've ever heard, slinks into your consciousness like Peter Gunn’s ghostly shadow out on the prowl. For further proof of the track’s dark allure, check out the accompanying video made by Michele Civetta, which is full of noirish abstract menace and jumpy innuendo and presented in deliriously unsettling black and white.
The New York-centric track "Who's That Girl" with its minimalist groove like some sultry take on slow-motion synth-wave, Beckmann's fluid baritone tracing a path right down the center between cynicism and yearning, the two so tightly wound around each other as to be conjoined twins.
The multi-layered, dusky "So Real" is as ghostly as it is luxuriant with the kind of bass line that dreams are made of, Beckmann elucidating the plain pain of missing someone so much the ache is visceral, the virtual vision of them somewhere between a mirage and a fever dream.
“Dreamland,” the concluding song is a kaleidoscopic wonder suspended between Bryan Ferry, The Wizard of Oz, and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Beckmann croons “Did you ever wonder where dreams come from.”
An EP that not only upholds limitless repeat listenings but improves with each one, ICNCLST/, at the very least, confirms that Mortal Prophets and the guy at its helm continue their reign as one of our current music world's most invaluable sources of straight-up pop classics designed, rather precisely, for our jaded, hope-against-hope hearts. Oh, and, not to tease, but there’s one more secret to let you in on, the next album is already wrapped and awaiting release. Mortal Prophets: a relentless creative force that, with astutely chosen assistance, acts with the prowess of a one-man Brill Building that’s come to rescue us from the decades-long doldrums in which the well-crafted pop song has been mired. Hallelujah.
MUSICIANS:
John Beckmann: vocals and lyrics
Gerald Menke: guitar
David Sisko: production + mix
Studio: MinMax, New York
Mike Tucci: mastering
TRACKLISTING:
01. Flowers For You
02. Sun Is On Fire
03. Bang Bang
04. Who’s That Girl
05. So Real
06. Like The Night
07. Dreamland
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