‘Glad To Be Alive’ by Brook Pridemore | Album Premiere
Exclusive album premiere of ‘Glad To Be Alive’ by Brook Pridemore, out September 16th, 2022.
Fresh home from a US tour to a Brooklyn that was silenced by the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployed and unable to play live, Brook Pridemore was overcome with a flurry of middle-of-the-night songwriting. More intimate and unflinchingly honest than anything they’d written before, this batch of nascent songs painted snapshots of the most trying moments of the songwriter’s life: an altercation with a teacher (‘The Man Who Tried to Kill Me’), the suicide of a childhood friend (‘Learned to Play the Drums’), et cetera. Pridemore imagined this songbook to be a humble demo, a la Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’.
Ben Hozie, leader of Brooklyn art-punk band Bodega, was fresh home from a long tour of his own. He and Pridemore had grown close over the previous Winter, passing the guitar in Hozie’s apartment while the days were short and both were between tours. The idea to record an album together sprung out of an unexpected wealth of new Brook Pridemore songs. Hozie and Pridemore recorded the album at home, playing all the instruments themselves (with a little vocalizing from Nikki from Bodega and some choice bass playing by Tim from Big Bliss). The finished product was mixed and mastered by Adam Sachs at Trout Studios. Out of a climate of fear and uncertainty, inspiration led to perspiration, which led to ‘Glad to be Alive’, the 7th album from Brook Pridemore.
Forged in a childhood spent obsessing over sitcom themes and commercial jingles, Brook Pridemore began a life of songwriting as soon as a guitar was placed in their hands. From their earliest coffeehouse gigs in Kalamazoo, MI to numerous tours of the US, Canada and Western Europe, Pridemore’s live show is one part Jonathan Richman and one part Sunn O))). Having moved to New York in 2002, Pridemore began touring within a couple years, maintaining a home base at the Sidewalk Cafe. Deeply indebted to the antifolk scene with which they were long associated, Pridemore’s songs are at once funny and poignant, arresting and disarming.
Pridemore’s third album, ’The Reflecting Skin’, garnered considerable attention as the result of tours with folk punk legend Pat the Bunny. Subsequent albums ’A Brighter Light’, ’Gory Details’ and ’Metal Is My Only Friend’ were instant underground classics, and Pridemore crossed over into metal with the 2021 ’Trve Grind’ EP. With 2022’s ’Glad To Be Alive’, Pridemore fully embraces pop music, layering head-nodding rhythms and catchy melodies around often pensive, introspective lyrics. From the weary gratitude of the title track, to the teenage ennui of ’If You Wanna Die’ to the casual hope of ’Hunt Sales’, the best Brook Pridemore songs dance the pain away. Pridemore is at once funny and acerbic, their best work lay in the discovery of new sounds and ideas.
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‘Wore Me Well’ by Brook Pridemore | New Album, ‘Glad To Be Alive’
