Since you only need a minor grip on reality to realize just how dark our days have become, Brandt Brauer Frick have done the unthinkable with their new album; the Berlin trio has tackled Joy. Remember that feeling? Of course you do. And if you don’t, the following stream and track-by-track commentary (by singer/poet Beaver Sheppard, who plays a supporting role throughout the record) should help. But listen closely. Things aren’t always what they seem….
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“YOU CAN BUY MY LOVE”
My internal debate between love and lust. What has money become to us? How relative is it to the debate? How much of our hearts do we truly follow? Or is it survival…. Is it instinct?
“CITY CHICKEN”
The music made me think of New York in the ’70s. I transposed myself there. Walking around. Feeling anything was possible. Where the clothes on your back, style, attitude, and street smarts made you the person you are.
“POOR MAGIC”
It’s about how the laws of attraction keep us on a equal playing field. Not necessarily how much money you have. This song directly takes me to a backyard BBQ I was at once. A ex-girlfriend was there. I could feel a positive ominous tension still lingering. Actions definitely were speaking louder than words that day.
“BLACKOUT 94”
Here I reference a storm that happened in Newfoundland. We didn’t have power for four days. You have a lot of time to actually think during this. I thought about how the small town where I’m from makes us homogenous. You really see how people segregate into their respective styles/groups. I was a hippie/indie/skate/punk/goth. There were also rockers/metalheads. Or prep/jocks. And a group that would just wear survival suits and sit in the negative 20 degree weather next to the train tracks. I believe they were a anomaly. We called them Scully’s. I would guess in a bigger city situation there would be more pronounced segregation. I feel this is one great benefit of growing up in a small town.
“SOCIETY SAVED ME”
A song about the monotony of routine. And without each other we wouldn’t be anything.
“KEEP CHANGING”
I was reading Patti Smith’s Just Kids. It reminded me of my first relationship living with a lover. We didn’t have a lot of money and spent an unhealthy amount of time together. The simple things in life like waking up together and lying in bed all day or a candlelight dinner become precious.
“HOLY NIGHT”
I write a lot about the power of the night. You just never know where the night will take you. Many times having a moment with someone you may never see again. The night is its own spirit.
“OBLIVIOUS”
A song about the excessive nature of humanity. How we are all aware and blind of our doom. How entertainment is the only thing that truly matters. And the internet has created a platform to feel everything and nothing at the same time.
“COME AWAY FROM MY BODY”
This is about my days as party boy in Montreal. Never sleeping from Thursday to Monday. How we sometimes find deep life meaning and serenity with drugs. How we talk so much bullshit. How the underground is the birthplace of everything.
“FACETIME”
A song attempting to place Love. My friend Hadji Bakara (Wolf ParadeE, Megasoid) once told me I had to write the definitive song about love. I never really finished it…. I still feel I haven’t.
