Description
This is the Moment is an album by the American alternative rock band The Violet Burning, released on Northern Records in July 2003. It was September 2003 Pick of the Month at The Phantom Tollbooth.
It was somewhat confusing when Michael Pritzl announced that he was releasing an album as The Gravity Show. When you have a band that is essentially a solo project with a rotating cast of musicians – as has always been the case with Pritzl and The Violet Burning – why exactly do you need a side project? The release of This Is the Moment, Pritzl’s seventh release under the Violet Burning moniker and eighth overall, provides a bit of context that makes his thinking a little clearer.
Pritzl has always been a bit schizophrenic as a writer, alternating between glammy, dense, mood-based offerings and more intimate and spiritual work. When he’s been able to fuse those two sides of himself, as was the case on the utterly stunning self-titled record, the results are simply staggering. But there have always been songs that worked well in one sphere or the other, but not in both. Think of the Gravity Show and Violet Burning monikers as a filing system to handle this problem. Looking for a bit of glam swagger? The Gravity Show is what you want. Looking for a little more introspection? Look to the Violet Burning. Either way, you’re going to come out with one damn fine record as Pritzl has not yet come close to putting out a bad disc.
This time out, Pritzl turns to a band of seasoned players – The Prayer Chain’s Andy Prickett, Stavesacre/Saviour Machine’s Sam West, and his longtime bassist Herb Grimaud – to offer up the most polished and lush disc of his career. Guitars shimmer away into the distance, those Cure-influenced basslines are again in full effect, and Pritzl is in fine voice as always. When Pritzl is on his game, he is a writer able to draw out those swells of unfulfilled longing and spiritual ache most of us don’t have the nerve to speak of out loud, and that is again the case here with the slow burn of tracks like «Slowa», «Lord, Rescue Me» and «Let It Begin» (which plays out like a b-side from the Prayer Chain’s seminal Mercury album) cresting into a superb emotional catharsis.
Again, as is very often the case with Pritzl’s work, it is very difficult to say whether this is meant to be approached as a rock record or as a worship album – but it’s that ambiguity that provides one of the disc’s greatest strengths. Pritzl moves easily from the “sacred” to the “secular” and back again, and in the process, breaks down the barriers that we tend to erect between the two spheres and lends a breadth of scope and vision to his work that can be staggering at times.
Ironically, if there’s a significant weakness to the disc, it’s that Pritzl seems to have been in a predominantly good mood when he wrote the tracks. While I certainly wouldn’t wish ill on someone for my own gain, Pritzl is most compelling working in minor keys and though the more uptempo work is still solid, it just doesn’t seem to carry the same emotional heft as some of his more difficult work. Yes, tracks like «Lovesick» and «Everywhere I Go» may have catchy hooks and singalong choruses, but they also seem as though they could have been written by any number of people whereas the aforementioned «Slowa» could only have come from Pritzl’s pen. When you’re capable of something that distinctive, then anything else comes off as slightly substandard, no matter how good it would sound in another context or from another performer.
In all, though This Is the Moment may not be a challenger for the top position in the Pritzl discography – that position is still held securely by the self-titled disc – it does stand as further proof that any day Pritzl chooses to bring new material into the world is a good day indeed. [Chris Brown, Opus, August 2003]
When your favorite band releases a new album it can be both exciting and scary at the same time. On one hand, there will finally be some new music to listen to instead of the old CDs that you loved so much. But on the other hand, what if this new release disappoints and forces you to go back to the old CDs, longing for those better days.
The Violet Burning’s music is very personal for me. It appeals to me on more levels than any other band has ever done for me. And this is exactly how The Violet Burning earns their fans: Michael Pritzl and company write and play music that reaches people in a deep way both emotionally and spiritually. The music is born from Michael Pritzl’s honest heart, striving to do the best possible with his God-given talent.
The band’s last release Faith and Devotion of a Satellite Heart was no doubt a worship album, designed with that intent in mind. Prior to that release, Demonstrates Plastic and Elastic was much more cryptic lyrically with the focus on love songs. This is the Moment feels like the album that pulls these two sides of The Violet Burning together into one cohesive whole.
The music on This is the Moment is the accessible side of The Violet Burning that they showed promise of with songs like «Moon Radio» and «Gorgeous» on Demonstrates. At first this is a bit worrisome to critical music listeners. Has Pritzl compromised his artistic talent for a few hit singles? Repeated listens to This is the Moment will reveal that Pritzl has compromised nothing, but that he just might indeed have a few hit singles here anyway. The songs walk the difficult line between accessibility and artistry and do it with a balance that works.
Lyrically, This is the Moment feels like an unrestrained worship album. The band does not have the moniker of “worship album” placed on this CD, so Pritzl had the opportunity to pen songs coming from a heart of worship that may manifest themselves in other ways. A glance at the song titles reveals quickly that this is a Christian CD. But it is never at one moment cheesy.
The best songs on the album are spread throughout. There are upbeat rock songs like «Lovesick» and «Radio Jesus Superstar» that could very well gain the band the airplay that they so badly deserve. Then there are the beautiful songs like «Slowa» and «Manta Rae» that will certainly appeal to fans of the band’s older music. In fact, «Manta Rae» could very well be one of the best songs that Michael Pritzl has ever penned.
I’m really not sure how Michael Pritzl pulls it off, but this CD connects with the listener. It communicates and oozes truth and beauty in an intimately personal way. One thing is for sure, in a few months The Violet Burning will find themselves with a lot of new fans. Those of us who have stuck with them for awhile now don’t need to be bitter about it. They’re sharing themselves with an many people as possible and this is the kind of music that our world desperately needs. [Trae Cadenhead, The Phantom Tollbooth, 6/22/2003]
Those who’ve been with Cross Rhythms for the long ride will know we’ve been breathlessly eulogising their talent ever since that stunning ‘Chosen‘ album burst upon us in 1990. Since then they’ve gone through more than their share of difficulties but against all the odds Michael Pritzl is still there in 2003 to lead his fellow Californians to vistas new. Their unerring ability to concoct densely layered guitar soundscapes and melodies that ache with wistful poignancy. But now the evidence of a healing for Michael is clearly apparent. At least the darkness and pain that once permeated some of their albums have lifted. There are still occasional glimpses of bleakness («Lost Without You Near Me» for instance). But more often there’s a joyful, almost childlike acceptance of God’s love. And a song like «Radio Jesus Superstar» glows with a joyful innocence. Another incomparable album from one of the finest bands in Christendom. [Tony Cummings, Cross Rhythms, March 2004]
> Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/album/1o9UOCc6yAfjoSluim3Aeu)
CD tracklist:
01. Lovesick – 2:39
02. Everywhere I Go – 2:54
03. Radio Jesus Superstar – 3:02
04. The Only One – 3:16
05. I’m Not Letting Go – 3:59
06. Heaven Holds My Heart – 4:00
07. Lost Without You Near Me – 3:25
08. Lord, Rescue Me – 4:50
09. Slowa – 4:24
10. I See Stars – 3:34
11. Let It Begin – 4:00
12. Manta Rae – 5:30
Note: Available at Bandcamp: https://northernrecords.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-the-moment
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