SAM PREKOP - THE SYNTH GUY
Photo by Erik Keldsen
There is a magnificent 30 for 30 ESPN film about Bo Jackson (You Don’t Know Bo) where it talks about how the athlete was the rare case of one who was good at two sports — not that it is impossible to be good at two sports, but to play in two professional leagues rarely happens. You, possibly like me, may only know of Chicagoan Sam Prekop as vocalist of the magnificent Sea and Cake and also of his equally noteworthy solo albums. But apparently, like Bo Jackson, Prekop is in need of his own tennis shoe, because he has managed to release two albums, 2025’s Old Punch Card and his most recent The Republic -- both on Thrill Jockey — without using the soulful instrument of a voice which has become his signifier in the world of music, but rather using vintage keyboards and having those albums be (gulp) instrumental. Now, as I am not one to pigeonhole or box an artist, many of us music writer types know that when artists choose to expand their repertoire the results are mediocre and oftentimes horrid. However, this is not the case with Prekop. But one wonders: Why not just release these albums under an alias?
“Um, I guess I maybe thought about [it, but] not for this record because…I already have another record that’s along the lines of this new one, so at that time I was bit concerned, and I knew that some people were gonna be confused and not really get into it, but I also felt like I couldn’t worry about it too much and that it’s just a record, I’ll make another one, it’s not like a final statement kind of thing.” Prekop adds, “If you can’t get with it, that’s fine, wait for the next one. I don’t feel I have to be totally beholden to what people expect, exactly.”
