Profit Prison - Gilt LP (Black Vinyl)

Release Date: April 26th, 2024

Four years and one pandemic after his latest Dreams Of A Dark Building EP,
the herald of dungeon synth pop is finally back from his shallow grave.
Life has not been gentle with Seattle-based solo producer Parker
Lautenschlager over the past few years, imposing its unpredictability and
forcing him to channel all the feelings that come with it into Profit
Prison’s music.

It’s no surprise that his first full-length album Gilt marks one futher
step towards the dark corners of italo / hi-nrg body music. Typical Profit
Prison’s vocals and melodies, reminiscent of OG synth masters Kraftwerk,
Giorgio Moroder and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, are still here,
buried in the mix and waiting to haunt the listeners and drag them down in
one sulfurous dancing spiral.

Lead single Sophia juxtaposes some weirdly camouflaged vocals with one
heavenly chorus that seems willing to revive your fortunes while instead it
literally sings "But I lost it all". A Matter Of Tact displays pop escapism
over some throbbing minimal synth tension, Seven Words sounds like a
throwback to 70's italo filtered through the eyes of a 21st century punk
rocker. Katalina has a rampant synth à la Carpenter climbing over a story
of loss and Katalina, An Ascetic is a solo ramble reaching for the inner
light on a carpet of cold keys.

What's more, tracks got longer in Parker’s recent songwriting, with most of
the songs being now five minute long and reaching peaks of seven minutes
with the closing, almost progressive disco jam of A.R.P. (Amphetamine
Research Project), nothing short of a lucid dream on the floor of Studio 54.
Last but not least, the artwork by French artist Robin Roche delivers
medieval-yet-punk graphic vibes to match just perfectly the sounds on this
record.