The Gatekeepers: The Gatekeepers

The Gatekeepers is a concept album and is the brainchild of composer Alex Wroten, who brought together a vast array of musicians from various genres to put together this unique avant-garde opera musical. Is not common nowadays to have an artist take such risks in creating art the way Mr. Wroten does with The Gatekeepers, in which besides being responsible of writing and composing the totality of its 15 songs, also brings on board names like Elaine De Falco, Shawn Phillips, Matthew Parmenter, Bob Drake, The Residents, Deborah Perry, etc., to participate in his progressive, jazzy, folky, and electronic rock story of an artist who tries to get its work out in the world while facing all the toughness and clogs cynically put out by investors, music labels, patrons, marketing solutions, and others that one way or another will influence and affect its artistic fate… The Gatekeepers… brilliant stuff!

The musical output is not my cup of tea, neither are the various vocal styles and narratives that help tell the story, but the lyrical content is simply magnificent, and if used as gateway to help understand and digest the rest of the proposal then the record per se is perhaps the most entertaining piece of musical art I have lately encountered. I might not even be able to pinpoint any hook or memorable melody, and yet somehow it is so freaking addictive… like a combination of lo-fi psychedelic Pink Floyd, Sgt. Pepper’s/Magical Mystery era of The Beatles, the oddity and complexity of Genesis’s The Lamb, and the avant-garde playfulness of Frank Zappa… and that’s what this album feels like. Do I have your attention yet?

The album couldn’t have a darker beginning with the subject artist letting self-doubt creep in before taking his art to the world in the song “Butterflies�, following with the crazy “I Like Strange Things� and the admission of how weird his work is… all of this with extraordinary musicianship and flawless execution of the infinite variety of instruments being used. The artist is then given some advice by a close friend who also offers to use her connections in effort to help him in “A Promising Direction�, a song that I find quite enjoyable and sits within mt favorites from the album, which softly blends lyrically and musically with “Who are The Gatekeepers?�, where the artist acquires some knowledge about the relationship of the art-consuming market and them, The Gatekeepers… the beautiful and enchanting guitar work by Frédéric L’Epée is an unquestionable highlight here. The subject’s first encounter with one of The Gatekeepers takes place in “The Professional�, my favorite song from the record, pastoral and hypnotic, where a moody industry-veteran bursts the artist’s bubble advising that no one will be interested in the strange things that he does… exceptional violin performance courtesy of M. Parmenter. “The Patron� is the second gatekeeper the artist encounters, an investor who relies on advisors to make his financial decisions, advisors who obviously fail to advise in his favor… another song that showcases the great eclectic sense of composition by Alex. “The Pundit� is an art-critic (and frustrated dentist) and the last gatekeeper with whom the artist will share his work with, who rates it with one star out of ten… a huge punch!

The path to regain some selfcare and search for alternative ways to showcase his art starts with “I Think I like Strange Things?� when an auto-critic monologue takes him to explore options on the internet in the song “The Algorithm�, a place where data and facts will supposedly surpass the obsolete opinions of The Gatekeepers and point a direction for the artist to follow… but it just makes everything worse and his work is not even shared… an exquisite sax solo courtesy of Amy Denio looms on top of the mostly electronic symphonic musical landscape… another one of my favorite songs. The artist’s frustration starts taking toll and affecting his performance at his day-job, and everyone around him notices it in “A Compromising Direction�, where coworkers basically tell him to leave his problems at home and get to work!... impressive Fripp-sounding guitar solo by Ty Citerman… in “All the Way to the Bank� someone appears to give the artist some counseling trying to make him understand that perhaps what he is doing right now at work might not be creative or in pursuit of his real passion, but it does pay the bills, to make him prioritize things. “I Like the Normal Things� closes the story with the artist changing things and choosing the average path, with a brief recap of every Gatekeeper’s explanation of rejection to reassure his decision. An strange record, as strange was the art work the artist was trying to get out into the world, but with an open mind this strange “art� can be immensely entertaining… as it happened to me… cheers!

Track list:
1. Butterflies (2:32)
2. I Like the Strange Things (3:47)
3. A Promising Direction (3:00)
4. Who Are the Gatekeepers? (3:02)
5. The Professional (5:05)
6. Ignorance (0:13)
7. The Patron (3:39)
8. Anonymity (0:13)
9. The Pundit (3:27)
10. I Think I like the Strange Things? (1:37)
11. Obscurity (0:16)
12. The Algorithm (3:48)
13. A Compromising Direction (3:15)
14. All the Way to the Bank (4:09)
15. I like the Normal Things (4:08)

Added: June 17th 2023
Reviewer: Jose Antonio Marmol
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 599
Language: english

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