Prince Daddy & the Hyena: Cosmic Thrill Seekers: Black Vinyl

2LP Black Vinyl in Diecut Gatefold Jacket

Prince Daddy & the Hyena operate like a Kansas tornado, or a black hole. Their gravitational force pulls in the entire DIY rock community, and draws its focus whenever they announce something new. The release of Cosmic Thrill Seekers has magnified that force and allowed their audience to not only expand, but focus on a singularly important issue of mental wellness in an astonishingly nuanced collection of songs. The band has matured thematically, improved their audio quality by strides, and has definitely been hanging out with Oso Oso—because those melodies are beautiful and familiar.

The narrative shifts between acts begin at the end of each previous one, where the new persona takes over. The instrumentation is especially diverse in these moments. There are sometimes subtle, but more often dramatic, style shifts that play to the band’s unique strengths. Prince Daddy has always been an eccentric project, and the erratic nature of their genre blending is the perfect vehicle for the different tenors of chaos that manifest in these differing personas. The album addresses heavy personal topics, but manages to incorporate the incredulity of their signature style into the music. (The Alternative)