Shawl

Description

Shawl is the major label full-length debut album by the American alternative rock band The Prayer Chain, released on Rode Dog Records in August 1993, a sub-label of Reunion Records. The album was produced by Steve Hindalong of The Choir fame with the band co-producing.

[Bruce A. Brown, CCM, June 1993]

It isn’t often a disc begins with the sound of a Tibetan monk attending his first rave party. But then after their smash set on the Cornerstone ’92 New Band Showcase, I trust they know what they’re doing.

Don’t let the clean production of Tim Tabor’s smooth vocals fool you into thinking this is just another pretentious pop band trying to look underground. The chops and the passion are there in spades. The only difference is the music is louder than the tape hiss. Dare I compare this to the slough of despondent Seattle wanna-bes? Jyro from Mortal moans his way through the album’s first track, «Crawl», as the Choir‘s Steve Hindalong provides percussion. And thus the tone is set for a tortured soul to acknowledge sin, beg mercy, and receive forgiveness. While not a theme album, many of the songs revolve around intense introspection. The result is a powerful statement about our individual need for redemption. [Dave Canfield, Cornerstone Magazine, 1993, Vol 22 Issue 101]

“Shine is dead” howls Prayer Chain vocalist Tim Tabor, over the grinding rhythm and ‘Mosque-crier sounding wail of the background vocals. And it’s clear that not only is this band not willing to rest on the laurels of its highly touted debut EP, ‘Whirlpool’, but they’re willing to wrest away the handles that fans might expect when dealing with this Southern California Church-concert mainstay. This anthem, like the album it opens, may shut the door on the past, but for Prayer Chain the future remains wide open.

It’s no great surprise to any who’ve seen Prayer Chain live that this young quartet has wedded bold charisma with an aggressive musical edge to create a dynamic and energetic live persona. With ‘Shawl’ the band demands we take them seriously as a creative musical unit as well, and for the most part fulfills the high expectations it raises. From the defiant opener into «Dig Dug», an exploration of the Apostle Thomas-like experience of doubt, Tabor leaps from the scaffolding of Eric Campuzano and Wayne Everett’s secure rhythmic structure, but it’s Andrew Prickett’s alternately grinding and soaring guitars that carry him over the ramparts.

If at times overly dramatic and self conscious (perhaps most disparagingly on «The Hollow»), Tabor manages to sell himself and his comrades by sheer force of conviction. Ever near to pretention, «Never Enough» becomes a meaningful anthem, as much for Tabor’s relentless courage to take it over the top and the song’s amazing hook and resourceful lyrics. While not all of the tracks deal with the issues of belief and spiritual fulfillment as directly as others, even Campuzano’s lyrics of paternal angst («Fifty Eight»), the seduction of love («Grin») and manipulative romance («Worm»), they all reflect the common longings of humanity toward healing and renewal.

Prayer Chain’s sound is as real, vibrant and vital as anything happening in music today, something Christian bands have not always been able to claim, and the chant vocal presence feels superbly original. Prickett’s dexterous guitar manipulations hold forth the promise of future broken ground, while on ‘Shawl’ he lays before us a broad, palette of the many tones, textures and colors available in the modern alternative guitar hand-book. Together with Campuzano and drummer Wayne Everett, Prayer Chain’s instrumental’s reel and rock with an unchallenged authority. There’s a delightful rhythmic interplay that’s gloriously tight, yet flexible.

And here, perhaps is where growth is most necessary. Tim Tabor is often so close to over the edge vocally and dramatically that after a while it lessens its impact by sheer repetition. As he gains the confidence to lay back a little, Prayer Chain’s emotional range will broaden significantly. Which would make ‘Shawl’, for all its creative strength and cathartic joy, merely a foreshadow of great things to come. [Brian Q. Newcomb, Syndicate Magazine, May/June 1993, Vol. 8, Issue 3]

> iTunes (https://music.apple.com/us/album/shawl/304807982)

CD tracklist:

01. Crawl – 2:57
02. Dig Dug – 3:16
03. Fifty-Eight – 4:27
04. Like I Was – 4:30
05. The Hollow – 2:32
06. Never Enough – 6:39
07. Wrounde – 3:16
08. Grin – 5:54
09. Big Wheel – 3:52
10. Pure – 2:36
11. Untitled – 1:07
12. Worm – 3:11
13. Psycho Flange – 4:05

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and CD by Reunion Records. A 25th Anniversary Edition vinyl double album was released by the band in 2018 through a Kickstarter campaign. Available at Bandcamp: https://theprayerchain.bandcamp.com/album/shawl-3

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[youtube_sc url=”a6nG_DwABz0″ title=”The Prayer Chain – Crawl (VIDEO)” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]

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[youtube_sc url=”AUXY86aYb-w” playlist=”” title=”The Prayer Chain – Shawl 25th Anniversary Concert” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]The Prayer Chain – Shawl 25th Anniversary Concert, House of Blues Anaheim, California, July 28, 2018.