Prophecy Playground - Comfort Zone (2020)

Prophecy Playground’s debut album Comfort Zone. Prophecy Playground is a project by singer/songwriter Or Izekson, founded in Tel Aviv in 2018.

It has the feel of a concept album in terms of a beginning, middle and end structure, exemplified by the music and not by a definite theme that is pursued – though the listener is free to add the narrative. Light and yet a sense of dark skies and a touch of ennui. The languorous or grey thoughts clear when we hear the opening chords of Comfort Zone, a bright tune that belies the song’s message that despite doing something to change, change doesn’t happen if you miss the point.

The similarity of approach to these two tracks, and indeed virtually all of the album, to Nick Drake is not an accident as Or is currently performing a tribute solo act to Drake’s Pink Moon. Spirit Yawn, also very Drake-esque, starts with the clear acoustic guitar and the strings coming in from underneath. I get the feeling that this track, along with most of the others, are self-reflecting, unconsciously right for these self-confinement times. Is the singer thinking, perhaps tricking himself, that his lifestyle that he thinks is the best, is, in fact, not at all what he needs. Similar ideas come through on Occasional Blues, another cheery melody carrying the message of ‘Don’t let yourself get buried in the past’ even though ‘you sometimes feel like a stranger to this age’. Yeah, don’t get buried – listen to the music and go with the flow instead.