The Mortal Prophets - GUITARWORKS II

The Mortal Prophets

GUITARWORKS II
self-released; 2025

​​​​By ​Dino DiMuro
​

The Mortal Prophets is a New York-based experimental music project founded by composer and visual artist John Beckmann, and he’s back with GUITARWORKS II, a sequel to last year’s “Guitarworks.” It’s described as “a profound and cinematic album of ambient guitar
meditations, delving even deeper into silence, memory, and transcendental experience.”


Warning: the press release they sent was so descriptive and well-written, I’m tempted just to copy and paste  everything they wrote! They explain that “each composition unfolds as a brief, self-contained ritual, evoking the ancient and the invisible through layered guitar tones, analog textures and deep spatial awareness. The result is music that feels eroded by time, weathered like ancient stone, and perfectly suited to headphones, twilight, and solitude.” Influences include Robert Fripp, Jon DeRosa and Brian Eno. 

Beckmann (who looks a bit like Andy Warhol) used vintage amps and analog effects “to preserve warmth and imperfection.” For myself I always enjoy projects that focus on electric guitar, such as Terry Kath’s “Freeform Guitar” or the album by The Red Book that I reviewed here a few years back. This 50-minute album has 16 tracks at about four minutes each, so there’s a lot movement and mood-shifting as you listen. Each track is named after pre-Columbian archaeological sites, such as Chaco Canyon, Cahokia Mounds, and Serpent Mound. Following are impressions of just some of these tracks.


“Chaco Canyon” seems to feature both guitar and various types of bells or singing bowls, though what I’m hearing might have been created by speeding up certain guitar string tones (the “not knowing” is something I love about these tracks!). However created, the result is totally magical. Minimal percussive sounds are also introduced. “Cahokia Mounds” has a folky picked motif, with backward sounds and string slides adding extra flavors. There’s a couple digital pops that would be worth Beckmann hunting down and fixing.

“Bighorn Medicine Wheel” sounds like big slashes of electric guitar recorded in an underground tunnel, again with some cool backward ornamentation. “Mesa Verde” has a very chiming Byrds-like sound, echoing against organ chords and hints of a heavenly choir. “Moundville” has epic waves of guitar chords somewhat like Steve Howe’s volume pedal work. “Hopewell Culture” definitely reminds me of Fripp and Eno as the chiming guitar motifs seem to loop and randomly interact with each other, though I don’t think these are actually loops. “Mystery Hill” has a similar chiming quality and actually sounds like the beginnings of a rock song!

“Chimney Rock” gets into the lower, growling metallic tones for an orchestral effect, topped with feedback. There’s some lovely backing strings or synths here. “Hovenweep” harkens back to the de-tuned glory of Jandek. In “Wupatki” the guitar sounds like a throat singer, or a slowed-down bullroarer, topped with all manner of cool, futuristic sounds. “Angel Mounds” concludes the album with a surprising blues-like workout, with slide guitars bumping against each other like Captain Beefheart. There’s even some horn sounds! 

There’s a lot here but it all goes down nicely, even with the occasional shift in tone. An interesting and intriguing project totally worth a listen!

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