RUSSEL BROWN O'BRIEN [and his many projects]

Diarist
 
Wordsmith Russel Brown O’Brien must live in a world where strangers spontaneously offer tentative accompaniments to his observations of the world. Such images come to mind listening to Diarist, a soundscape of sonic gems that seems part studio album (in the widest sense of the term) and part live (perhaps in a once-up-and-coming dive following a Neil Young Harvest Moon concert, absent the VIPs, the crowd exhaling to listen to something important). In fact, these musicians are no strangers to O’Brien. An intimate lineup of distinguished Nashville compeers offers a satisfyingly frisky musicality to O’Brien’s dynamic vocal style. In moments, the instruments disappear and O’Brien’s poetic ramblings fall into the warm accompaniment of silence. Elsewhere, lonely guitar lines encourage O’Brien’s crooning. In “Funeral Home,” awkward samples of Japanese koto and shakuhachi flute drape an eerily pleasant yet certainly jarring backdrop for a stubbornly melodic self-requiem. “Why Crime” and the old-timey, knee-slapping “Froggie” have the voyeuristic impression of field recordings, seemingly caught in a hallway of a Nashville flop-house—yet it feels that O’Brien alone has his calculatingly eye on us. Sparingly (save for the mind-boggling cover of “Smells like Teen Spirit”), pop references toss up an irreverent, yet not at all nihilistic play with modernist nostalgia. Diarist is a peak behind the curtains at the traveling fair, the performers playing around their table for the mere enjoyment of making music. And what if amusement occasionally reaches to the sky to offer an enormity of vision?

Upcomming Release:

Russel Brown O'Brien - Bright O'Brien
01. Platstic Toy Ships [mp3]
02. Hey Pal [mp3]
03. A Killing In Cental Park
04. Where?
05. Tracy Dick
06. The Ground Above You
07. Nothing For You Here (Makes No Sense At All)
08. Home In A Box
09. What I Want
10. Perfect Family

Current Releases:

Russel Brown O'Brien - Diarist
01. My House
02. Smells Like Teen Spirit [mp3]
03. First Day of May
04. Arc of a Falling Star
05. Froggie [mp3]
06. Why Crime??
07. Message from Amy
08. Perfect Day
09. My Hands

BOHM - Spooked
01. Fuck You Devil
02. What I Want [mp3]
03. Thin Red Line
04. Trouble in Mind