Precious Child - ESCAPE

Neil Gaiman is a man who is known for his contributions to the dark fantasy genre thanks to his works on The Sandman, Stardust, American Gods, The Graveyard Book, and Coraline - which would later go on to receive a film adaptation. But that's just putting Gaiman's contributions to the entertainment industry minimally. The man has wrote, co-wrote, hashed out, and edited countless works in his time and has toured doing readings of his shorts and the like. 

So, when industrial rock artist Precious Child received an invitation to record music for a biopic based on Neil Gaiman, he just simply could not refuse such a calling. Enter the world of ESCAPE, the EP that features music from the Neil Gaiman biopsy Dream Dangerously. But before I get into what I have to say about the EP, here's a few word from Precious Child himself based on the EP: 

Since this was for Neil’s biopic I decided to consciously approach it as a storytelling exercise. I’m a huge reader with a particular affinity for mythology, folk tales, and legends. In my little circle of personal associates I’m known for my ridiculously fragile and sizable pile of antique Arabian Nights books. Obviously, Neil’s stories get along real well with me. I love the intensity, carnal elements, and scale of his books. My overall favorite is Sandman which I read start to finish non stop over two months of summer while holed up in an exes house. There’s a lot of violence, tragedy, and peril in his stories. There is also a lot of beauty and moments of comfort and intimacy.

Although Precious Child prides himself on being a dark rock outfit from LA, you won't be finding much of that on this album at all. The synth based intro track 'To Need' will tell you what you're going to experience from start to finish on the EP. It's ominous, dark, but relatively mysterious and strange; it's very dream-like. 'Past the Sky' opens up the gates to ambient storytelling mixed with drawn out synths and charming little chimes that twinkle in the song like stars in the sky. 

'Storytime' is exactly what you'd expect; it has violins and sounds like music that would go well with an exploratory phase in a movie. 'Take Off Your Skin' had very light guitar notes with back up ambiance and, later on, choral samples. 'Oh Beauty' sounded like a continuation of 'Past the Sky' while 'Our Secret' played on one too many standard for drone music - although the ending piano work and electronic bits were a welcome relief. 

'Magic is Real' is another song with guitar backed up by beautiful ambiance, while 'Stiff as a Board' brought on rougher piano notes and a stronger character. 'Don't Wake Up' started off as an odd little piece that eventually threw in sad sounding violin notes with eerie atmospheric sounds claiming the background. 

'Light as a Feather' brought around a lighter sound with heavy percussion strikes and an overall brighter mood. 'Exorciation' sounded like a song that was made and then reversed in one go. The final piece on the album 'Let's Pretend' was a short fifty-six seconds but was a good send-off. 

While I can't say I've ever read all of Neil Gaiman's works and I'm not his number one fan, I think what Precious Child was able to do with ESCAPE would have him put out a wide smile and many thanks nonetheless. The only real song I had a problem with on the album was 'Our Secret', but even that song turned itself around towards the end. 

Even if you're not a Neil Gaiman fan, this is worth listening to. Go check it out. 
Aug 13 2016