ARTiST: Peter Broderick
ALBUM: How They Are
BiTRATE: 173kbps avg
QUALiTY: EAC Secure Mode / LAME 3.97 Final / -V2 --vbr-new / 44.100Khz
LABEL: Bella Union
GENRE: Indie
SiZE: 42.19 megs
PLAYTiME: 0h 32min 18sec total
RiP DATE: 2010-09-11
STORE DATE: 2010-09-03
Track List:
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01. Sideline 4:51
02. Human Eyeballs On Toast 4:47
03. Guilt's Tune 4:27
04. When I'm Gone 3:46
05. With A Key 4:29
06. Pulling The Rain 5:28
07. Hello To Nils 4:30
Release Notes:
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How They Are is slight, delicate; it sounds as if any external noise would drown
it out. Listen on headphones, and even at volume the music here is challenged by
anything else: a passing siren, the drone of daytime office radio, requests for
cups of tea to be brewed. It is not intended as an album proper, recorded as it
was during downtime, when Broderick û sometime Efterklang member, fully fledged
solo artist û was forced to rest up following knee surgery. His next album will,
instead, arrive in 2011, assisted by his neo-classical composer friend Nils
Frahm. Beguilingly, though, this is perhaps more than an album, despite its
brevity.
More, because it presents no filler, no bridges between arrangements intended to
latch to the listener and never let go. It offers nothing thatÆs not direct,
albeit in a very stripped-back and subtle fashion, each piece bound by
instrumentation born either from piano or guitar. Percussion, youÆll be pushed
to find any. Instead, gentle melodies turn like slow-motion tornadoes, screwing
into position with a canÆt-look-away beauty, all destructiveness is ostracised
from the encounter. When IÆm Out, a piano instrumental, circles and sighs, light
fingers on illuminated keys playing out a private dance that the listener feels
uncomfortable spying; Human Eyeballs on Toast triumphs over its terrible title,
BroderickÆs engrossing rhythmic repetition matched with lyrics that utterly
arrest. Should the attention have wandered, lines like "If I had a bigger brain
/ IÆd surely find a way to take my own life" soon have it snapping back. GuiltÆs
Tune is a spoken-word delight, worthy of comparison to under-appreciated San
Diego author and musician Adam Gnade; Hello to Nils adds singing to this
whispers-over-an-acoustic equation, but cuts just as deeply lyrically with a
message that, ultimately, time heals all.
Broderick is open about the compositional shortcomings, if one chooses to hear
such minimalism as a bad thing, on this collection û itÆs a step backwards
before a more significant one forwards, says the artist. A band will come
together; grander songs will be recorded and subsequently toured. But itÆs
unlikely that anything on the forthcoming Frahm-guided LP will be quite as
exquisite as the finest numbers here, tracks where an unhurried elegance informs
a whole that charms with uncommon tact and poise, spot-lighting simplicities
that entertain every bit as brilliantly as bolder, more boisterous writing.