Midwestern alt-rockers, Flannel Mouth, have finally given a date of birth to their firstborn full-length, The Prisoner’s Cinema. This album comes three days after the anniversary of their breakthrough EP, Pull in Your Horns, since which the Central Illinois quartet spent writing, touring, re-writing, and perfecting a concept album / rock opera. Vocalist/songwriter, Luke Myers, comments, “This tragic parable reminds us how frail love can make us, one bloody song after another.”
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The story of The Prisoner’s Cinema is a simple and timeless old story: woman asks man to kill her because he loves her so, man identifies murder and passion as synonyms, man kills everyone he ever feels anything for, man is offered redemption, man falls back into his old ways, man dies alone with loads of regret. The new record is a three-part play, complete with intermissions – an ambitious undertaking for a band’s freshman release. “It gave us a bit of a guideline, essentially, to which we adhered and adapted,” added drummer, Tyler Owen. “Luke wrote this heartfelt and bloody script and we just tried to match the feelings of the scenes to the notes we played. Three years in the making came together all at once.”
The fourteen tracks are a sonic whirlwind of Midwestern rock tangled in elements of progressive pop. Flannel Mouth turned to the unmistakably capable hands of label owner Michael Abiuso who is known for his works with Kiss Kiss (Eyeball Records), The Gay Blades (Triple Crown Records), The Venetia Fair andBehind The Curtains Media to produce, mix, and master the album. The band flew Abiuso from New York City to Peoria with a suitcase full of gear, holed themselves up in a vacant office building, built a professional studio, and only paused for a trip to last year’s SXSW. Zachary Hartman, lead instrumentalist (and named as additional production credit), reveals, “We turned the conference room into a live room, the main executive office into a control room/sleeping quarters, and the bathroom into a vocal booth. It was definitely a unique experience.” Listeners can certainly hear a delicate caring and quality to their product; consider it a critical library addition to complement artists such as Johnny Cash, Cursive, The Dear Hunter, Circa Survive, A Lot Like Birds, Foxy Shazam and more!
