Prophecy is the debut album by 53-year-old British musician and singer Gideon Foster and he’s been prepping for this release almost his entire life. The music came late as he didn’t start writing music until later in his life. The result is an album that’s personal, and emotional, and has a wide range of different influences and styles. I tried as much as I can to describe each one of the album’s 13 tracks to you.
1- Affirmation
The track has a lot of post-punk and post-rock elements in its production and especially the way the vocal lines are written and the way the vocals themselves are mixed. The verses have a soft and somber atmosphere with the piano behind them.
2- Curious Eye
This song has a recurring vocal hook that will remain stuck in your head. The strings and the vocal harmonies here increase the post-punk and gothic rock feel of the song.
3- Prophecy
This track is based around a soul-crushingly emotional vocal melody intertwined with keyboards, strings, and pianos without drums or any beat. To me, what makes this track amazing is how it’s written in a very percussive manner although it has no actual percussion to it.
4- Fatal Kiss
This track brings back the post-punk elements with the jiggly bassline and the retro feel and influence it has on it. What modernizes things a bit is the clean production and the perfectly-mixed vocals. It’s like Radiohead meets Bauhaus.
5- Six Feet Under
This track will take you back to the 60s and 70s with its melodic songwriting. One of my favorite sections is the beautiful guitar outro here. It’s one of those riffs that’s straight to the point and touches your emotions.
6- Piece Of Me
Another piano ballad where Gideon gets to show his vocal control and impeccable breath support. Being able to sing the same melodies in the softer parts as he does with full voice is truly what makes him an amazingly talented and gifted vocalist.
7- Picture You
I can only picture myself in an 80s goth club dancing among bats during the prime time of goth culture. Although it has some bright guitars, the darkness, and theatricality of the vocals make it reminiscent of some of my favorite synthpop and darkwave bands of the 80s.
8- All Things
This track reminds me a bit of early-era Coldplay with its piano and lo-fi percussion being the main focus of the track. It’s not completely a ballad, but also not completely a heavy song.
9- Hedonism
Another piano ballad that I thoroughly enjoyed.
The last three tracks are mostly ballads and depend on the piano greatly in their emotional delivery and main melody, except for Cross The Stream which has some soft drumming. Overall, this album is a songwriter’s journey after years of life experiences that he went through and more years trying to write this music and put it into serious tracks with amazing song structures like these. I enjoyed this journey so much and felt like Gideon Foster poured his soul out for us here.
