This Friday 31.05, Ed Prosek released his brand new EP named “Light as a Feather”. Born and raised in California, he lives today in Berlin.
Ed Prosek has been studying in the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and this is what makes his music so distinctive. He knows how to mix his classical background and some more contemporary influences to create his own kind of music.
His new EP, Light as a Feather is composed by five songs rather personal in which Ed deeply opens up about his life. The resulting EP is really nice and touching. Listening to Light as a Feather makes some emotions such as hope, love or lightness arise. In the song “Light as Fever” for example, Ed Prosek sings about his parental inheritance and particularly about his father, a former Czechoslovakian immigrant. Then, the songs “Wisdom” and “So beautiful” are more about love and the pain that comes with it. Generally speaking, the EP is about turning sadness and difficulties into happier memories.
There’s a really nice balance between Ed’s singular voice and the instrumental arrangements. As both the parts are strong, it could have been a little bit overwhelming. But it’s not. For me it’s a real success. Each part has its time to shine, sometimes together and sometimes apart.
We had the chance to speak a little with Ed about his EP and his life in general.
indieBerlin: First of all, could you introduce yourself to our readers?
Ed Prosek:
Hi Guys!
I’m a songwriter from Northern California, who via Brighton in the UK moved to Berlin a few years ago and immediately fell in love with it!
My mother is a very talented opera composer, and as a classically trained trumpet player myself, my music is deeply influenced by the whole world of classical music, even though the sound is very contemporary.
I’ve released a number of EP’s throughout the years and found an audience on Spotify that supports my music and it makes me so happy to be able to write and play my own music for a living!
indieBerlin: You came all the way from California, what is in Berlin that you don’t find in California ?
Ed Prosek:
I love Berlin for the mixture of beauty and ugliness, history and future, gritty but full of personality.
This kind of sounds like an underhanded compliment but I always find that if things are too beautiful or too perfect, there’s nothing for an artist left to describe, and that’s often how I feel about California. It’s gorgeous, it should be inspiring but somehow it doesn’t leave enough to the imagination. Berlin with its beautiful grittiness always leaves me with something new to say and think and I can’t get enough of that.
I love Berlin for the mixture of beauty and ugliness, history and future, gritty but full of personality.
indieBerlin: If you weren’t a singer, what job would you like to do?
Ed Prosek:
I grew up in the country and I always loved working with my hands in nature. I think if I couldn’t be a musician I’d want to be a farmer if some kind, working the land, planting and harvesting, in touch with a side of the world I do miss since I moved to the city!
indieBerlin: In your song “Light As A Fever” (release next week), you say that “home is all you carry with you when you go”. Could you tell us a little more about it?
Ed Prosek:
My father left former Czechoslovakia before the wall fell as a refugee and eventually emigrated to the United States and built a whole new life for himself. His story has always inspired me and I tried to follow in his footsteps to find my own home. That journey has led me to live in many different places and meet so many people, but ultimately it’s not the place that make it a home, it’s a sense of belonging and the roots you lay down that make something feel like a home.
indieBerlin: Do you have any passions beside music?
Ed Prosek:
I love to cook, in all my years of living in Europe I haven’t been able to find any decent Mexican food, so I’ve learned how to make it myself instead.
I also love classical Roman literature, I’ve read everything from Livy to Tacitus to Ovid. I’m a giant nerd basically
indieBerlin: How do you create your songs, do you think about the lyrics first, or the music? And where do you take your inspiration from?
Ed Prosek:
I always come from a musical perspective first. I find that it’s the chords and the melody that always inspire the words rather than the other way around. Sometimes I’ll write a little passage and there will only be one phrase that fits perfectly, and that’s what sets off the lyrics. It’s almost like filling in a jigsaw puzzle.
I try not to plan what I’m going to say lyrically but rather I often find out what it is I’m writing about much later, as if I was trying to tell myself something.
I often find out what it is I’m writing about much later, as if I was trying to tell myself something.
indieBerlin: If you could perform with any other artist, dead or alive, who would you choose?
Ed Prosek:
I recently found my absolutely favorite band (still alive) called ‘The Wood Brothers’ (terrible name, but unbelievable tunes) and their album The Muse has had a huge impact on me. I would love to have the opportunity to sing a song with them.
indieBerlin: What is your favorite memory from your tours?
Ed Prosek:
it was only in the past year that I’ve begun playing shows in places I’ve never been and have had people show up who know every word to every song. It’s such a mind blowing experience to be sung your own words by your audience, and it really pulls on my heart strings every time and I have trouble not letting a little tear out haha.
indieBerlin: If you had to catch a punchline, a quote or a sentence (from you or someone else) to describe your life, which one would it be?
Ed Prosek:
“And if I was thinking I’d be thinking thank god, whoever you are, For the muse in this old guitar. At times like these, so sweet and so true,
When thinking the last thing that you want to do.”
As mentioned above by the Wood Brothers.
indieBerlin: What would you like to achieve before the end of 2019?
Ed Prosek:
Then later on in the year I’ll be releasing a completely different EP with a new sound and a new musical direction that will counterbalance what we’ve done so far, plus we’ll be going on our biggest headline tour to date, all over Europe with some really exciting concerts that will be announced very soon!
I literally can’t wait for everything that’s on its way for me this year!
Ed Prosek will be playing in Berlin 13.06. in der Kulturbrauerei/Maschinenhaus. You don’t wanna miss that. You can win 2×2 tickets for the concert, all you have to do is send an email to win(at)indieberlin.de. See you there!
Follow Ed Prosek on facebook and Instagram
Photo credit: Laura Guitana
