"Prisoner" is a song by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Dance Gavin Dance Dance Gavin Dance is an American rock band from Sacramento, California, formed in 2005. The band currently consists of vocalists Jon Mess and Tilian Pearson, lead guitarist Will Swan, rhythm guitarist Andrew Wells, and drummer Matthew Mingus. ...

. It was released to digital download and

streaming services An over-the-top media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributors of s ...

as the lead single from their ninth studio album, ''

Afterburner An afterburner (or reheat in British English) is an additional combustion component used on some jet engines, mostly those on military supersonic aircraft. Its purpose is to increase thrust, usually for supersonic flight, takeoff, and comba ...

'', on February 21, 2020, by Rise Records. The song features an uncredited guest appearance from

Royal Coda Royal Coda is an American rock band based in Sacramento, California, founded by lead guitarist Sergio Medina. They are known for their amalgamation of progressive rock, psychedelic rock, and post-hardcore. The band currently consists of lead voc ...

and

Eidola Eidola is an American rock band from Salt Lake City, Utah, formed in 2011. The band consists of lead vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Wells, guitarist Sergio Medina, bass guitarist James Johnson, guitarist and unclean vocalist ...

guitarist Sergio Medina. The song was produced by Kris Crummett while Drew Fulk handled vocal production. Lyrically, the track is about

hallucinogens Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorized ...

and deals with topics of

idolatry Idolatry is the worship of a cult image or "idol" as though it were God. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the A ...

while sonically, it has been compared to the band's 2009 studio album, ''

Happiness Happiness, in the context of Mental health, mental or emotional states, is positive or Pleasure, pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishin ...

'' due to its

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

and funk rock nature.

Background

Following extensive touring in support of their eighth studio album ''

Artificial Selection Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant m ...

'' (2018),

began recording sessions for their ninth studio album. Prior to the Artificial Selection Tour, the group held a recording session in January 2019 with producer Kris Crummett at Interlace Audio in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. The band released the stand-alone single " Head Hunter" on March 22, 2019, and a second stand-alone single "

Blood Wolf "Blood Wolf" is a song performed by the American rock band Dance Gavin Dance. It was released as a single for digital download and streaming on October 11, 2019, by Rise Records. It is a b-side to the band's 2019 single " Head Hunter". It was pr ...

", on October 11. On February 20, 2020, Dance Gavin Dance began teasing new music. The following day, the band released "Prisoner", accompanied with its music video, and announced their ninth studio album, ''

''.

Composition

"Prisoner" is a

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has been ...

, and funk rock track with a runtime of 3 minutes and 47 seconds. The instrumentation was written by

with additional guitar performed by Sergio Medina. The track has a BPM of 125 and is in the key of

F-sharp minor F-sharp minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative major is A major and its parallel major is F-sharp major (or enharmonically G-flat major). T ...

Music video

The music video for "Prisoner" was released on the same day of the single's release, on February 21, 2020. The video depicts a standard one-shot scene of

performing in a color-changing room with palm trees in a psychedelic atmosphere. It was directed by Orie McGinness and Sam Hallen, the latter of which who's directed the videos for "Inspire the Liars" and "Head Hunter". Additionally, the video was produced by Mike Taylor and coordinated by Veronica Zin.

Credits and personnel

;Dance Gavin Dance *

Tilian Pearson Tilian Pearson (born July 12, 1987), also known mononymously as Tilian, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer born in Clearwater, Florida. Since 2012 he has been the third clean vocalist for the post-hardcore band Dance ...

– clean vocals, backing unclean vocals * Jon Mess – unclean vocals * Tim Feerick – bass guitar * Will Swan – lead guitar, backing vocals * Matthew Mingus – drums, percussion ;Additional personnel * Sergio Medina – guitar, composer * Joseph Arrington – composer ;Production * Kris Crummett – producer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer * Drew Fulk – vocal production

References

{{Dance Gavin Dance 2020 singles 2020 songs Dance Gavin Dance songs Rise Records singles