LISTEN: Tony Frissore feat. AXIOM — Stolen Valor
Tony Frissore is a Cleveland producer and musician who studied in Boston and New Orleans, fell for funk, jazz and late-night jam sessions, and later spent time in Europe working with DJs and club owners. These days he plays in the Cleveland band Pop Avenue, and his tracks regularly turn up on MTV, Discovery, TLC and HGTV. His catalog runs from the 2008 EDM mix "The Übermix" through hip-hop singles to the downtempo album Quarantine Chronicles, made during lockdown. "Stolen Valor," out on October 30, is a collaboration with rapper and spoken-word artist AXIOM, and both men have spent much of their lives around the military and national security world. The title turns the familiar phrase around: the song asks what happens when someone who truly served starts to feel the meaning of that service slipping away, as AXIOM weighs his own career against the direction of today's Department of Defense. The two are careful to say they speak for no one but themselves. The single arrives just ahead of the US midterm elections and Veterans Day.
Musically, “Stolen Valor” is a beautifully crafted piece of funk and soul, with Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On probably being the closest comparison. And it makes sense thematically, too, since both songs deal with political disillusionment and the painful gap between the ideals a country claims to represent and what actually happens. There’s something distinctly old-school about the groove, with its warm, relaxed feel, but my favorite detail is the buzzing synths. They immediately bring to mind warning sirens or the sound of a military helicopter hovering overhead, which is a clever way of connecting the arrangement to the song’s subject. It gives the otherwise smooth, soulful music a slightly unsettling edge.
The lyrics are especially interesting because AXIOM speaks from personal experience. He joined the military because he believed in being part of something bigger than himself, served in places where mortars were falling, and eventually found himself in the bureaucratic corridors of government. Now he's watching the values he once served being dismantled. Some of his lines are remarkably direct, especially “we are witnessing the normalization of tyranny” and “the cruelty is the point.” But I also like how the song ends with him admitting that he's tuned out the news and turned to music from happier times to protect his peace. There's something quite poignant about that, especially considering how much the track itself resembles the socially conscious soul music of the early '70s. Fifty years later, we still seem to be having some of the same conversations, and unfortunately, Marvin Gaye's questions haven't lost much of their relevance.
Musically, “Stolen Valor” is a beautifully crafted piece of funk and soul, with Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On probably being the closest comparison. And it makes sense thematically, too, since both songs deal with political disillusionment and the painful gap between the ideals a country claims to represent and what actually happens. There’s something distinctly old-school about the groove, with its warm, relaxed feel, but my favorite detail is the buzzing synths. They immediately bring to mind warning sirens or the sound of a military helicopter hovering overhead, which is a clever way of connecting the arrangement to the song’s subject. It gives the otherwise smooth, soulful music a slightly unsettling edge.
The lyrics are especially interesting because AXIOM speaks from personal experience. He joined the military because he believed in being part of something bigger than himself, served in places where mortars were falling, and eventually found himself in the bureaucratic corridors of government. Now he's watching the values he once served being dismantled. Some of his lines are remarkably direct, especially “we are witnessing the normalization of tyranny” and “the cruelty is the point.” But I also like how the song ends with him admitting that he's tuned out the news and turned to music from happier times to protect his peace. There's something quite poignant about that, especially considering how much the track itself resembles the socially conscious soul music of the early '70s. Fifty years later, we still seem to be having some of the same conversations, and unfortunately, Marvin Gaye's questions haven't lost much of their relevance.