Biography
"I guess that this record, like a lot of 'debut' albums, is kind of a greatest-hits record, like 'This is my life's work up till now.'
So says Spike Priggen on the occasion of the release of The Very Thing That You Treasure. Though t [+]Biography
"I guess that this record, like a lot of 'debut' albums, is kind of a greatest-hits record, like 'This is my life's work up till now.'
So says Spike Priggen on the occasion of the release of The Very Thing That You Treasure. Though the album, on his own Volare label, is the New York-based singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist's first under his own name, it's the work of a seasoned songwriter and performer who remains a true believer in the transforming, transcendent potential of pop music.
Priggen has a long and varied musical history, which encompasses numerous highly-regarded bands and notable recording projects. That sense of experience is reflected in the seamless craft and heartfelt insight of the album's 12 songs, which encompass breezy power-pop ("Yesterday"), bittersweet jangle-balladry ("Every Broken Heart"), aggressive garage crunch ("Alright"), airy chamber-pop ("She Used to Be My Baby"), sensitive acoustic introspection ("The Right Thing") and moody prog-psychedelia ("So Good to See You").
"These are some of the songs I liked the most after ten years of writing tunes and making demos, that I thought worked well together as an album," Priggen explains. "There's a lot of sad songs, a lot of which were inspired by various bad relationships with girls/bandmates/friends etc. For some reason, that's what I tend to write about, although in a lot of the songs, the most vehement putdowns are usually directed at myself. But I did try to balance out the sad songs with a few goofy, fun ones. People who don't know me might get a really distorted impression of my happiness level based on the songs. I actually think I'm kinda happy-go-lucky."
The Very Thing That You Treasure (whose title refers to a legendary bootleg tape featuring Nashville radio preacher the Prophet Omega, an excerpt from which appears as one of the CD's unlisted bonus tracks) was recorded by Priggen and longtime pal Adam Lasus (whose voluminous recording credits include work with Helium, Versus and Madder Rose) in a makeshift Brooklyn home studio specially outfitted for the occasion. The sessions featured a virtual who's-who of local musical talent, including guitarist Jon Graboff (Beat Rodeo, Amy Rigby), bassist Scott Yoder (Kevin Salem, Blue Chieftains), keybo
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