The Republic is the second album of modular synthesis from The Sea and Cake’s Sam Prekop. The album moves Prekop’s synthesizer compositions further into the realm of the accessible without abandoning the experimental legacy of the instrument. The Republic was recorded in Prekop’s home studio in Chicago during the early months of 2014. Although he has primarily only performed synthesizer sets in Chicago, in part due to the extensive process of setting up and dismantling the instrument, he plans to perform works incorporating elements of The Republic throughout the US in 2015. The Republic is his latest synthesizer work, following 2010’s Old Punch Card, and showcases Prekop’s talent for creating expressive music through mechanical patterns, repetitions, and chance. Prekop’s innate gifts of melodic turns of phrase that have made him a revered songwriter are transferred into new forms in his synthesizer work, aided by the unpredictable melodic capabilities of analog sequencers, and The Republic is an exciting new chapter in his development as an accomplished synthesist.
