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PREY//IV

Spike Sidor
Alice Glass Prey Review Album Cover

ALICE GLASS

2022 INDUSTRIAL-ELECTRONICS/GLITCH-POP/EDM 

Prey//IV is the long promised debut album from electronic music icon Alice Glass with production by Jupiter Keyes, formerly of HEALTH. It’s been nearly a decade since the last release Alice appeared on; that being the third and essentially final album of her prior project Crystal Castles shortly followed by their breakup and the revelations surrounding the duo’s dynamics. It feels like a solo record has been on the horizon since that time whether it be in the form it is now or some other collection of songs that have not graced the light of the public. Every once in a while a single or two would drop maybe a remix then silence for a couple years. Clearly the journey of Prey from her hard drive to your home wasn’t an easy one but hey it’s here now. Generally I don’t listen to singles, but considering the lack of more substantial material I figured this might be all that is dropped so I needed to give it a go. Let’s just say that based on these teasers my expectations were nonexistent. Prey is better than that, but it’s not good either. If you are familiar with her previous work in Crystal Castles then what is going on here will not be much of a surprise. Moody and abrasive electronics with simplistic structures. Tortured topics and vocals that cover a range of delivery styles that pile on an even wider range of effects onto them.

It’s the kind of music that would fit right into a mildly underground nightclub’s goth night, but no actual goths are there; it’s just the regulars albeit more black makeup then usual. And I mean mildly underground, these tunes are pop tunes that an ominous midnight fog has descended upon. That’s not supposed to be an insult, it’s pretty poppy, weird but not too weird, and sinister but not to an inhospitable level. I’m not sure how much of a crowd pleaser it would be because Prey has problems and ones without clear fixes. The first you might be able to identify before listening. It’s a short album, thirty two minutes long and only one track above the three minute mark. Considering the struggle its very release was you can be safe making the educated guess that it doesn’t sound finished.

Starting with the title track whose escalating intensity feels as though it’s building to a second act. I can hear it now, a rush of exhilarating noise and Alice proverbially wrecking her vocal chords in that way we all adore. When the scream at two minutes happens I’m all braced for it, but no, fade out. The most egregious example of this is Suffer In Peace. I was taking notes while listening and was confused when mid-sentence the next song started playing. If this was back in the days of downloading music I would have searched for other copies to make sure I didn’t get a fucked up one, that’s how odd it is. Then there is the production.

I enjoy the atmosphere that it cultivates but a lot of its construction is bland and devoid of progression; like on the overblown Love Is Violence. Its loud-quiet dynamic is so played out even if the fuzzed out bursts of bass and dark waves of synths are enjoyable on their own it still has that uncanny feeling that I’ve heard it before. To make matters worse sometimes the vocals feel off from what’s happening on the instrumental like on Pinned Beneath Limbs that has Alice throwing out monotone high notes atop a nocturnal battleground. On paper it doesn’t sound that bad, but I shall repeat, it feels off, and I wouldn’t cast this aside as merely being worse than her visceral vocals. It’s not all trudging through a field of mediocrity as the lyrics hit hard, focusing on the emotional torment of abusive relationships and more specifically the tumult of Alice’s own experiences and the events surrounding the outing of her former bandmate. Fair Game is a major highlight in this respect featuring line after line of manipulative chants that beatdown their recipient.

If everyone knew you, you wouldn’t have any friends
You screw up everything
I didn’t wanna tell you, but I have to
I have to ’cause I care
I’m the only one who cares

There are more examples of this as well as the complaints that came before but I will stop here. I like Alice and Jupiter, I like the music that they’ve made independent of one another. On Prey they are lesser than the sum of their parts. It is undercooked and uninspired. So many of the tracks here needed more love, an additional detail, a bit of a rethinking, something, because as is the main feeling I come away with after a listen is disappointment and my main thoughts on it’s hopeless lackluster.

3-4/10

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