We first wrote about Prudence, the project of Australian Tom Crandles, back in 2019 with the release of single ‘Euphoria‘. “[The song possesses] a curious, uneasy edge,” we wrote of the track, “a volatility hidden beneath the easy façade that unnerves and delights in equal measure.” Such a duality between pop richness and punk edges informed the debut Prudence record, released later that year on Forged Artifacts. “On Major Tom, Prudence explores realms both strange and reassuring, disquieting and beautiful,” we wrote:
Human traits are wrapped up in a gloominess as grey and chilly as the Cold War-era of the post-punk and new wave it references, revealed only in the intermittent illuminations made so prominent by the twilit tones—the dancing sparkles, the fog-bound will-o’-the-wisps, the great flashes of light.
After a number of singles in the intervening years, this month sees Crandles return with a brand new Prudence EP, Untitled, this time released via Endless Recordings. The record again delves into a chaotic and contradictory blend of moods, a swirl only exacerbated by the current predicament. Indeed, Untitled is something of a product of the pandemic. “In the past year I have taken an involuntary break from music and life in general,” he explains. “Obviously 2020 was one great collective struggle. I decided to print some music as motivation to help find my balance and connect again. This music is a reflection of my year in static.”
In other words, the juxtaposition that Crandles usually seeks out for the Prudence sound was all too apparent. A mismatch between exterior stasis and internal turmoil, and the dizzying present that results. Latest single ‘Celestial’ faces this head on, leaning on piano to amp up the intimacy and confront the pessimistic picture of the world unfolding outside. The song “is more of a reflection of the face of futility that stares me down day to day,” Crandles explains, “and the harmful ways in which I try to defy it which ultimately lead me further away from where I want to be.”
Untitled will be released on 14th May on Endless Recordings and you can get it now from the Prudence Bandcamp page.