From the initial disturbing roar and subsequent drop into nervous pseudo-ethnic acoustic strumming and Eastern-accented female vocals, you know you're in for a strange musical adventure with Prayers to Be. Taking their name from that given to the temple musicians who once performed the Psalms, the psalters are intent on sharing their vision of "new songs" with fellow believers.
It's a common thing for people in college to pick up the "shake the Western tradition off" mentality. Psalter leader Scott Krueger has taken this tendency and run with it, linking the spiritual oppression of the dominant culture with outward popular musical forms. And so he goes far, far out of his way to avoid any sort of comfortable or familiar Western music on Prayers to Be. In fact, only "Fattened Frothing Swine" has a readily identifiable chorus.
The rest of the album has an unfinished feel to it, striving mostly for the sound of turban-headed toothless street musicians at the end of the day, and veiled mothers humming mournful melodies to their children in dark dirt rooms. The music of life in that culture, in all its pain and struggle. Thirteen musicians and singers (not all at once) mix it up with everything from acoustic guitars to cello to bouzouki to djembe to tumba conga, and as many other instruments. And yet, one can still recognize extreme indy rock sensibilities thru it all, inescapable Western vibes faint but sure.
Such familiar echoes will not be enough to appeal to most people, though. Most of the music here irritates my ears quite a bit, in fact, although I love the whole idea--the homemade creative packaging, the meaty material of the lyrics, and the desire for a poetically purer spiritual sound than is possible through conventional music. I'm just not sure this is quite the unconventional music that does it for me.
That's not to say there aren't some extremely enjoyable moments. "I'm Free" borrows from primitive black spirituals, with a sole drum accompanying spare gospel singing. It's beautiful. As are many of the exotic female vocals throughout the album. "inthel" could be lifted straight from a Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus album, with its mix of storm and running water background, shaker, and medieval female vocal singing:
Your radiant flames rush upon these bound lands
The pounding waves of sound roll in from above
Oh sunderer of darkness to unchain hands
filling caves of my soul with immortal Love.
Anyone with experimental leanings in their musical tastes should find plenty of intriguing sounds here among the mish-mash of traditional Middle-Eastern, Native American, Negro slave, "Two-Thirds World," and experimental underground music. Most listeners will lack the patience or understanding to tolerate Prayers to Be, and "pretentious" will for sure come up more than once among those who can comprehend this project. Those for whom the music ends up as novelty or background noise, however, may still find nourishment in the overall concept and intense lyrical content. The project is unique enough for everyone to hear it and make their own call. And since it's a first-time effort at music-making by Krueger, we can expect more mature offerings in the future.
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 1998Reviewed by Titi Ala'ilimaThe first thing you notice is the packaging, a 5-1/2" x 8" booklet using a warm, earthy palette. The CD itself is found in an envelope made from the cover and a few pages from an old hymnal. The foreword begins: Our most intimate conversations can only be with God. For with people we must translate our thoughts into languages of the body and spoken word. But God hears our thoughts in unfiltered…More from Psalters
2004us vs. us -- Chapters I-III [Love songs for war]
2002Inside an Evil Axis
2000Sya a Ku (cries from the cave)
