The Grand Prospect

I have the pleasure of two guests on this show. Hour 1 features Nashville recording artist Chelle Rose. Her album Ghost of Browder Holler has been racking up great reviews and winding up on year end 'best of' lists all over the place. Hour 2 welcomes Brooklyn's own The Grand Prospect to the studio to talk about their self-titled debut.

Interview: The Grand Prospect

The Grand Prospect – Evelina

The Grand Prospect – T.V.Z.

The Grand Prospect – One of These Days

The Grand Prospect – Now That You're Gone

The Grand Prospect – Dancing Shoes - BBOX radio

I have the pleasure of two guests on this show. Hour 1 features Nashville recording artist Chelle Rose. Her album Ghost of Browder Holler has been racking up great reviews and winding up on year end 'best of' lists all over the place. Hour 2 welcomes Brooklyn's own The Grand Prospect to the studio to talk about their self-titled debut.

Interview: The Grand Prospect

The Grand Prospect – Evelina

The Grand Prospect – T.V.Z.

The Grand Prospect – One of These Days

The Grand Prospect – Now That You're Gone

The Grand Prospect – Dancing Shoes - BBOX radio

Listening to The Grand Prospect is the musical equivalent of drinking whiskey: it makes your ears tingle and you have the vague sensation that maybe this is what gold would be like if you could hear it.

Or maybe I have borderline synesthesia?

Anyway, The Grand Prospect's self-titled debut is nothing less than grand.

The music is a throwback to the best of classic, Southern rock without the weird sense of nostalgia for a decade that none of the band members lived through. The band may be based in Brooklyn, but there is a healthy sense of rootsiness here. It's hard to believe The Grand Prospect is a debut; everything here feels practiced, seamless, and confident -- as if playing music together were the most natural thing in the world.

I'm very excited to see where this band has come from and looking forward to seeing where they're going. Give The Grand Prospect a home in your mp3 player today. - Adobe and Teardrops

The Grand Prospect are a six-piece band out of NYC. All MM’s favourite ingredients are in place: three singers, banjo, guitar, keys, harmonies, an attitude of a little less talk, a little more rock and a singular objective of a damn good time.

The result is a self-titled, debut release on the 11th December that will be as good a slice of alt-country / Americana as you’re likely to come across in many a sunlit filled evening rocking on the back-porch. - Mad Mackerel

The Grand Prospect CD Release
Posted on December 6, 2012 by admin
If you haven’t yet seen The Grand Prospect live, your next opportunity will be next Thursday, December 13 at Union Hall. This talented group will be celebrating their self-titled debut release. The event will also feature local country visionaries Dirt Floor Revue and I’ll Be John Brown. For now, enjoy a review of the album:

The Grand Prospect
By Philip Doucet (of The High Irons)

“Its easy to assimilate your ideas and try to sound like someone else, it is much harder to be what you are and make art that is your own despite the weather.”-James Buckwald

The Grand Prospect have delivered a truly wonderful and rich debut album,simply titled, The Grand Prospect. The New York City 6 piece have crafted a record in the guise of celebration and heartache, with a slight advantage to the latter, sure to please those in search of a fantastic band playing great songs.

Cory Bornicker has crafted the lions share of these melodic and well constructed songs that serve as the foundation, upon which the musicians can sink their collective teeth into and transform tunes that would work on acoustic guitar into technicolor (or sepia toned) gems. Banjos, pianos, and horns adorn the album quite impressively, and a special nod to drummer Brian Rolston and bassist Tom Riccobono, who lay down an extremely fitting bedrock, in which the little shiny musical bits can sit upon. Locking the whole bundle up is guitarist, Hap Pardo, whose spindly, melodic leads are equal parts Scotty Moore and John Fogerty. To give full credit, the whole package is expertly recorded by, Nadim Issa, at Brooklyn’s Let ‘ em In studio. He has captured the vibrancy the Grand prospect display at their live shows and maintains all of the subtle nuance that often gets lost at a loud concert.

Upon first listen, I am immediately reminded of the Band, and their album, Stage Fright, when listening to The Grand Prospect. It isn’t so much a direct musical similarity, but some collective vibration (real or imagined) implied in the songs and sound of the band.

The Grand Prospect’s three singers are largely responsible for the variation and jukebox appeal of this album. The albums starts out perfectly, introducing and showcasing the three vocalists with three amazing songs. Tori Turner’s starts off the album with her sublime voice, elevating the song, “Evelina”, from somber banjo plucked despair into a Sun Records barn dance. Segue to banjo man, Ben Killen, whose southern accent stirs the pot that is the uptempo, “One of These Days”, co written by Turner and Bortnicker, this is a stand out track on an album of stand out tracks. And, rounding out the introductions is Mr. Bortnicker, crooning through another ramped up rocker, “Right in Time”. Bortnicker’s voice reminds me of a latter day Tom Petty, (think Wildflower) in its grit and sibilance.

The swing an sway of emotional turbulence continues with the stunning “Million Miles”, a breathtaking tale of sorrow, delivered with pitch perfect resonance by Ms. Turner. The themes of light and shade continue through the next three songs, “Santa Rita”, “Hardly Waiting” and “T.V.Z.”, all facilitating between joy and misery, triumph and remorse.

The album coalesces into two more stand out numbers, “Dancing Shoes”, which would have fit nicely onto Sticky Fingers/Exile Stones era releases and my personal favorite, “Now That You’re Gone”. Tori Turner and two acoustic guitars (credit to Dante Soriano of I’ll Be John Brown on one of them), weave a breathtaking story of sorrow filled affirmation of love lost. The stark playing of the musicians swirl in and around the haunting melody, conjuring an element of a familiar place unreachable in the infinite swirl. The album closes with the fitting Petty-esque “True Heart”. A song of longing with a gleam of the hope accumulated through stained windshields, driving aimlessly in silence.

Often, when I listen to music I respond to the attitude as much as the music. I am not referring to the fashion statement, but rather the aesthetic spirit of the music. Naturally, this is my own subjective opinion, but as a listener it is as valid to me as knowing the lyrics or chord changes. The message and intent is powerful to me, because it adds to the listening experience. The Grand Prospect take that bold leap into showing you where they have been and what they have collected along the way and more importantly what they have created from their experiences without wearing the T-shirt.

Buy this album and go see them live. It will be worth your time. - BrooklynCountry.com

A few seconds into The Grand Prospect's EP I thought, "Are these guys reallyfrom Brooklyn?"

Because, frankly, they have too much soul and authenticity. As Tim Barry pointed out in "Fine Foods Market" (off his new CD) there are plenty of kids out there who have traded in their synthesizers and punk rock hair-dos for flannel and acoustic guitars. There's lots of folk coming out of BK these days, but lots of it continues in the vein of wispy, apathetic hipster music that was pooped out in the early aughts. I hate that shit.

The Grand Prospect is not one of those bands.

Warm, steady, comforting. This is back porch music (or, I guess, front stoop.) While I tend to prefer more fast-temp music, I think the band really shines with its ballads "Lights" and "I Wanna Take You Home." "Santa Rita," the last track on the EP, shows me that this band is going places. It could have come out of The Band's repertoire. And, yes, I'm going to stake my reputation on that claim.

Their Twitter says they're recording a full-length album. I can't wait for it drop. - Adobe and Teardrops / Republished by No Depression

Last night I caught a very nice band at Arlene’s Grocery called The Grand Prospect. Much like The Band, this lovely ensemble has many different singers who take the group by the reins and weave their way through different musical genres… country, rock, soul… and just to bring the point home, they ended the set with a solid take on “The Night The Drove Old Dixie Down”. - Bryan Sargent