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<pre>Released for free by Human Identity Recordings at www.humanidentity.net
There is a strange analogue between the Priests of Leisure and the 1973 Pontiac Firebird. It is not a direct analogy, but the symbolism of this muscle car, it’s shape, it raised intake manifold, the jacked suspension, the well defined but spare interior, and above all the phoenix adorning it’s hood; all these attributes speak to the intensity and strength of the music created by the Priests of Leisure. Today the Firebird may be a symbol for the nostalgia of a different era, but when it was created it was a vision of what the future of automobiles, as well as the American spirit, might become. The Priests of Leisure have realized this vision.
Any listener familiar with 70s rock will hear elements of Foghat, Yes, Rush, Hawkwind and perhaps some more obscure prog-rock acts. However, POL is not a nostalgia act and manages to channel an alternate modern era where the 1980s never occurred. No new wave, no no wave, no LA glam, just a seemless continuity from 1973 where somehow Vietnam didn’t end, the Cold War wasn’t won, and the world is more akin to the landscapes and atmospheres of the first Mad Max.
Trevor Cole plays guitar on twin Ampeg heads to get the classic sound, and drummer Travis Luther is simply classic due to his hair cut. “Wicked†POL fan Jimmy Dolan describes their sound as “music you would hear in a beer commercial if the commercial was actually good.†Funny enough, POL has an unnatural fascination with Budweiser and the first track is actually recorded using bottles of Budweiser’s American Lager (Yet another aspect of this artistic statement that speaks to the past but is distinctly a creation of the contemporary).
This self titled album was recorded in the Fall of 2008 at the Granary. Below is a slide show of the recording session set to the track “Electric Horse Bite.†I promise you’ll burn your thumbs brown listening to this one.
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