Tọkasi fun awọn oniwe-awọn, ruminative guitar-and-voice-forward music eyi ti Aquarium Drunkard ti a ti tẹsiwaju bi “an awesome through line between Zuma, Marquee Moon and The Days of Wine and Roses,” Brian John McBrearty ni a artist ati a seeker ati, pẹlu rẹ titun album 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 wí pé, "ni o wa diẹ ẹ sii ju awọn ọrọ, awọn ede ti o jẹ iyanu laifọwọyi lati ṣeto." McBrearty bẹrẹ awọn ilana ti awọn akọkọ Remembering Repeating lẹhin awọn iyanu ti awọn ọmọde rẹ ati pe o jẹ, diẹ ẹ sii ju, ọna lati gbọdọ ati jẹ ọna fun McBrearty lati gbọdọ ilu rẹ.

Lẹkan ti o ba wa ni ọkọ ayọkẹlẹ, o jẹ gbogbo yi ati ko si eyikeyi ti o. Remembering Repeating Ti o ba tẹsiwaju pẹlu awọn iroyin saxophone –– ti a npe ni o dara nipasẹ The Mountain Goats’ Matt Douglas –– ṣugbọn o ko jẹ awọn iroyin jazz. (Eyi jẹ awọn iroyin ati awọn iroyin, bi awọn iroyin titun, ti o ti kọ ninu awọn iroyin, ni o wa ni o wa ni a iroyin.) O jẹ nlo pẹlu awọn iroyin saxophone –– ti a npe ni o dara nipa awọn iroyin The Mountain Goats’ Matt Douglas –– ṣugbọn o jẹ ko ni awọn iroyin jazz. Awọn iroyin ni o wa ni awọn iyanu ti David Sylvian-esque synth, ṣugbọn o ko jẹ awọn iroyin iyanu. Ni awọn iroyin ti o wa ni o wa nipa

<pfseg id="0">Album opener "Remembering" jẹ, apẹẹrẹ, awọn akọkọ track McBrearty ṣe. "Mo ti ko ba ni ileri lati ṣe ohun album nigba ti mo bẹrẹ gbigbe awọn synth awọn akọsilẹ ti yoo wa ni ibẹrẹ fun yi akọsilẹ. Mo nikan fẹ lati mọ bi o dara ju lilo a synthesizer ti mo ti ra ọdun ti tẹlẹ (a Roland Boutique JU-06)." Gbigbe pẹlu iṣan akọsilẹ synth akọsilẹ ti o gbigbe nigbati awọn sax ati awọn buburu rọrun gbigbe awọn agbegbe, "Remembering" lẹhinna pivotes to a Alice Coltrane-queesquees theme lori awọn synthesizer, pẹlu awọn saxophone nipa a lilting

<pfseg id="0">“Repeating” nṣiṣe ki o si tẹsiwaju ki o si tẹsiwaju McBrearty ká iyanu agbara lati lo awọn aṣayan akọkọ fun awọn ipa ti o pọju. “Ni akọkọ, Mo fẹ ẹni ẹni ẹni ẹni ẹni; eyikeyi ohun elo ti mo ṣiṣẹ jẹ ni iṣẹ ti awọn tẹsiwaju,” McBrearty sọrọ. Ṣiṣi pẹlu a bass solo ti o gbọdọ ni tẹsiwaju echo, “Repeating” gbọdọ gẹgẹbi a rọrun semi-nọpẹ saxophone melody ṣaaju lori a jaunty beat ati McBrearty's ṣiṣiṣe, syncopated synth lẹsẹsẹ, eyi ti o fẹ

Collaboration jẹ ẹya pataki ti McBrearty's music practice ati 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 ti wa ni aṣeyọri, McBrearty npe ni wipe nigba ti awọn ọdun lọ, o ti wa ni "niwaju diẹ ninu awọn ọna ọna." Ko si wipe awọn music ni o ni ko ni ọna ọna ọna tabi ọna ọna. Ṣugbọn, McBrearty's ipa si awọn music ni a fi sori ẹrọ lati "ti ni aṣeyọri siwaju sii, lati lọ si lati ọna ati ki o le intuition lati mu o." "Mi music jẹ nipa ifihan ati ki o si gba awọn aṣeyọri, iru aṣeyọri, ibaraẹnisọrọ pẹlu awọn eternal ... nibẹ ni ọpọlọpọ awọn ọna lati fi o," o npe.

Awọn diẹ ninu awọn ọna, o yẹ ki o si tun ko fi nikan.

McBrearty ni a veteran DIY musicista ati awọn ti o ti tẹsiwaju ti o ni aṣa ni aṣa ti awọn aṣa bi awọn olori ati chief songwriter ti ọpọlọpọ awọn bands ati, diẹ sii, labẹ awọn oniwe-ọna rẹ. “Mẹ ni a ẹya ara ẹni lati wo David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ ninu awọn ọkọ ayọkẹlẹ nigbagbogbo,” McBrearty remembers, “ ati awọn mi o ti tẹsiwaju pẹlu awọn iyanu ti Bowie jẹ ọkunrin ti o ti ṣeto ti awọn music ati aṣa ti o ti wa ni mu ni awọn ọdun.

McBrearty's music ọkọ ayọkẹlẹ ti o bẹrẹ nipa ọpọlọpọ awọn ọmọ ẹgbẹ ni NYU's gbajumo jazz iwadi eto. Nibi ti o ti kọ 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.