Ed Prosek has focused inward for much of his career, writing songs that examine identity, belonging and the complex allure of home from a first-person perspective. But on his latest single, the Berlin-based singer/songwriter is telling someone else’s story.
“This song represents a big shift for me,” says Prosek. “For the first time, I wrote from the perspective of someone else: an old friend from high school who I haven’t been in touch with for years. Through social media and mutual friends, I watched him become a junkie, hit rock bottom, then pull himself out of it to get a degree and a job. He got married and built a whole new life for himself.”
“The American Divide” is a compelling glimpse into Prosek’s forthcoming debut album, Redwood Cathedral (Nettwerk), which continues the unapologetically personal songwriting that has defined assorted singles and EPs over the years—even as it expands his emotional and narrative scope. Raised by a Czech father and an Italian mother, Prosek studied classical trumpet as a child before attending the San Francisco Conservatory Of Music. He eventually made his way to the U.K., then to Germany, where he settled with his family.
Prosek crafted his latest set of songs in a 300-year-old farmhouse in the Black Forest, producing, recording and performing everything himself. “This album was always meant to be a reflection of my life and, through my eyes, the lives of the people my experience was colored by,” he says.
And Prosek couldn’t be more grateful to the real-life protagonist who inhabits “The American Divide.”
“He’d probably never imagine I still think about him enough to write songs about him,” says Prosek. “But in doing so, I learned a lot about myself.”
We’re proud to premiere Ed Prosek’s “The American Divide.” Redwood Cathedral is available November 6.
—Hobart Rowland
