Didengkeun pikeun musik kaya, ruminatif guitar-dan-sound-forward nu Aquarium Drunkard diluarkeun salaku "an awesome ngaliwatan garis antara Zuma, Marquee Moon dan The Days of Wine and Roses," Brian John McBrearty mangrupakeun artis jeung pencari jeung, jeung album anyarna Remembering Repeating, he continues to expand his lush and diverse musical palette. Remembering Repeating is the first full-length recording that the 44-year-old Philadelphia native has made from which the guitar is entirely absent –– and his first instrumental outing in almost a decade. The record is instead built around resplendent synthesizer progressions, yearning sax, and steady, roiling rhythms. Taken altogether, it is at times reminiscent of Tortoise or Natural Information Society or the instrumental half of Another Green World. But despite a sense of familiarity and these few touchstones, Remembering Repeating is simply too personal to be anything but unique.

“There are emotions and life circumstances,” McBrearty nyebutkeun, "nu leuwih ti kata-kata, nu basa pisan kurang cukup pikeun ngécéskeun." McBrearty dimimitian prosés rekaman Remembering Repeating dina sateuacan maot babarengan jeung éta, utamana, hiji cara pikeun healing jeung éta hiji cara pikeun McBrearty pikeun ngaronjatkeun rohna.

Dina alatan cycling, eta téh sakabéh ieu jeung teu kitu. Remembering Repeating <pfseg id="0">nu aya kata-kata, tapi éta téh puisi. (Ieu téh sakumaha figuratif jeung literal, sakumaha judul track, dibaca sakuliah, saterusna ngawengku puisi.) Ieu lumangsung jeung melodies saxophone –– dimaénkeun pisan ku The Mountain Goats’ Matt Douglas –– tapi éta teu cukup hiji rekaman jazz. Di pusatna aya cai hangat tina David Sylvian-esque sintésis, tapi éta teu hiji rekaman lingkungan. Dina asalna jeung tujuan, éta musik healing, hiji médis ka hésé, tapi dina rilisna, éta hiji hésé di sorangan. “Music boga tujuan elemental,” McBrearty nyebutkeun. “Music nu non-deskriptif tapi tetep pisan komunikatif; jeung kebenaran untoldable bisa ‘diced’ ngaliwatan musik.” Lamun ieu

<pfseg id="0">Album pembuka "Remembering" éta, sahenteuna, lagu kahiji McBrearty dijieun. "Ieu teu ngidinan nyieun album nalika kuring dimimitian nyokot nyokot lagu sintétik nu bakal jadi dasar pikeun rekaman ieu. Kuring ngan hayang ngajar kumaha leuwih alus ngagunakeun hiji synthesizer kuring geus dibeli taun saméméh (a Roland Boutique JU-06)." Pembuka kalawan clusters sintétik sustained nu ring out nalika sakes jeung drums gampang eksplorasi ruang resonant, "Remembering" lajeng pivotes ka hiji Alice Coltrane-queesquees theme on the synthesizer, jeung sakesophone nyebutkeun hiji melody lilting saméméh ngamimitian kana wilayah improvised.</fspeg>

<pfseg id="0">"Repeating" diikuti jeung nembongkeun kakuatan McBrearty anu aneh pikeun ngeksploitasi konsep dasar pikeun pangaruh maksimum. "Hiji pangalusna, kuring nganggap diri hiji komposer; sagala instrumen anu kuring maénkeun aya dina layanan tina tuneu, "McBrearty ngécéskeun. Mungkul jeung solo bas dipanonkeun dina echo tape, "Repeating" coalesces di sakuliah hiji melodi saksofon setengah-note sederhana dimaénkeun ngaliwatan beats jaunty jeung McBrearty's turun, syncopated garis sintésis nu sounding langsung ti hiji Tangerine Dream soundtrack. Salaku melodi aslina diulangkeun, melodi ieu lajeng duplikasi jeung dipindahkeun ku catetan quart; saksofon ieu makan ekor sorangan. Literally

Kolaborasi mangrupakeun bagian penting tina latihan musik McBrearty jeung Remembering Repeating includes two short interlude tracks that are credited to all three musicians. “Burning” combines a haunting theme written by Douglas, drum improvisations from Jewell that are compressed into sheets of metal, and atonal synth loops that swell into focus at the very end of the track. “Floating,” meanwhile, was inspired by an unlikely source. “That tune was me attempting to replicate the sound my tea kettle made as it was heating up,” McBrearty reveals. Based on sustained synth tones that literally float between the notes C and C#, “Floating” presents a brief trip into the heart of darkness. Douglas switches to soprano sax for an eerie and sinister melody, while Jewell adorns the sonic space with bowed cymbals and bells.

In contrast to the short interludes, “Unfolding” is Remembering Repeating’s extended centerpiece, and a mission statement summarizing McBrearty’s compositional interests and achievements. Cinematic, beautiful, and patient, “Unfolding” slowly reveals layer-after-layer over the course of 9+ minutes. Beginning with interlocking synth lines repeating a cluster of notes within the same octave, McBrearty deftly adds and subtracts harmonic and melodic elements on synthesizer throughout the first half of the tune, creating a heady stew that fans of Bitchin’ Bajas’ twisted synth explorations, or the repetition of Bing & Ruth, will surely appreciate. “I was coming up with idea after idea after writing the initial riff that provided the foundation for ‘Unfolding,’” McBrearty says. “It was stream of consciousness, pure creation, but the real songwriting came months later when I arranged and mixed the various parts to form a cohesive whole.” Nearly 5 minutes in, a cymbal swell anticipates the entry of Douglas’ tenor sax, drenched in warm reverb and floating over a laid-back and absurdly in-the-pocket groove courtesy of Jewell’s drumming and McBrearty’s bass playing.

The A and B sides of Remembering Repeating both close with tender, heartrending pieces to conclude their respective journeys. Side A closer “Believing” is a balm for the soul and a testament to the power of sound. At the intersection of John Coltrane’s “Central Park West” and The Beatles’ “Sun King,” the song offers a healing force that is rarely captured in recorded music. Meanwhile, the final song of the album, “Receiving”—and the only piece to feature McBrearty’s (lyric-less) vocals—is a visceral portrayal of grief that ends with catharsis as Jewell’s drums and Douglas’ tenor sax swirl and envelop in the climactic final moments.

Though Remembering Repeating dihasilkeun tanpa cacat, McBrearty nyatakeun yén sabudeureun taun, anjeunna "kurang ngarasakeun ka kaahlian téhnis."Tapi teu nyebutkeun yén musik mungkasi tehnikalitas atawa kaahlian. Ayeuna, hubungan McBrearty jeung musik ngawakilkeun pergeseran internal tina tumpuan ka "ngambil pandangan leuwih ekspansif, meunang ti jalan jeung ngidinan intuisi pikeun ngabimbing anjeun." "Musik kuring téh ngeunaan ngabalukarkeun jeung ngabalukarkeun spirituality, semacam sakramén, komuni jeung éternal ... aya loba cara pikeun ngabalukarkeun eta," anjeunna nyebutkeun.

Dina sababaraha cara, bisa jadi, tanpa nyebutkeun sagala.

McBrearty mangrupakeun musisi DIY veteran sarta geus diam-diam ngumpulkeun rupa-rupa rilis salaku pamimpin jeung songwriter utama tina sababaraha band jeung, leuwih sadayana, dina ngaran sorangan. "Ieu boga ingatan anu jelas ngobrol 'Space Oddity' David Bowie's dina radio di mobil salaku anak," McBrearty ngingat, "dan bapa kuring ngécéskeun jeung kagumian yén Bowie mangrupakeun artis-ngubah bentuk nu musik jeung persona geus diubah ku taun.

<pfseg id="0">Perjalanan musik McBrearty dimimitian serius salaku mahasiswa di program studi jazz NYU anu dihormatkeun. Remembering Repeating contributor, Matt Douglas, as well as Love Beyond Measure Records co-founder Anthony Pirog (DC-based cellist Janel Leppin—and collaborator on McBrearty’s last album—is also a co-founder of the label). The sympatico between Pirog and McBrearty was apparent upon first meeting and after graduating they co-founded the bombastic and all-too-short-lived instrumental rock band New Electric, which issued only one EP in 2005, toured extensively in the mid-Atlantic, and could be considered the spiritual antecedent of Pirog’s current jazz-punk outfit The Messthetics featuring Fugazi’s Brendan Canty and Joe Lally.

In all of McBrearty’s musical endeavors, improvisation is the through-line. From a month-long weekly residency at Lower Manhattan’s Knitting Factory in the early aughts to participating in a guitar ensemble rendition of Julius Eastman’s “Gay Guerilla” (part of Bowerbird’s first of its kind Eastman retrospective) to the interlacing, angular dual-guitar attack of now-defunct Philadelphia jammers Mesmeric Haze to the panoramic and kaleidoscopic synthesizers of Remembering Repeating, McBrearty has consistently demonstrated an affinity for exploration on the fly. “I take a broad view of improvisation,” McBrearty explains. “It’s not just jamming and soloing. I’m often improvising when I’m composing, which is largely how the building blocks of Remembering Repeating were formed. I can improvise when I’m arranging or mixing a song. For me, it’s all about listening to what I hear within myself as well as outside of myself and synthesizing the two.”

From synthesis to synthesizers. A repeating, cycling of sound.

McBrearty’s expansive view of improvisation takes center stage on his twice-monthly radio show Improvised Solutions, which airs on Northwest Philly’s Germantown Community Radio. With more than 20 years playing in the Philly music scene, the radio show offers McBrearty a different way to interface with the music community after having shared the stage with the likes of Kinloch Nelson, Elkhorn, One Eleven Heavy, and even The War on Drugs (when they were still playing small clubs).

Love Beyond Measure Records is a label founded by life partners and musicians Janel Leppin and Anthony Pirog as a home for their favorite artists as well as for their own work. They are proud to present the superb work of Brian John McBrearty, Remembering Repeating, as the inaugural release on Love Beyond Measure Records.