I’ll tell you right from the start, this album was love at first listen. Brazos Phosphorescent Blues is full of surprises. Martin Crane’s voice soars on that first phrase in Dayglo and all the rest of those words come tumbling out in such a way that I long to learn all of them by heart. There’s just enough shimmy shake and banging on the keys to make me conjure up a sunny day in the back yard with gang of friends. “We Understand Each Other,” my favorite track, takes on an entirely different but equally pleasurable quality. The whole collection of songs brings to light a talent for phrasing and creating a melody that repeats just the way it should in just the right number of times. Seriously, this album spans the range from easy, tranquil, melancholy songs like “Avignon” to more insistent, quirky little numbers like “Tell” which stick in my head for days. In terms of having something for everyone… Phosphorescent Blues is perhaps the album of 2009. I’m hard pressed to come up with a record that offers as much variety of styles and yet keep its unified sound. Brazos, as a band, have given us a brilliant debut, and Martin Crane, for all his effort, has compiled a helluva trio at last.

There’s a lot of piano on this. It offsets Crane’s blue-eyed soul inspired vocals nicely. And yet when the guitars and drum/cymbals come in, that too is perfectly natural sounding. It’s jazz-like, it’s modern, it’s not tied to the typical rock and roll rhythms I expect. A few songs use the same formula: a nice slow, repetitive build that ends in a widening, increasingly louder chorus. I forgive them this formulaic approach for the simple reason that it works because they’re smart enough to do simple things to alter it for folks like me who don’t know much and don’t think about it too hard. By changing keys and adding and subtracting instruments (drastically) these ten songs really do not sound alike even though more than a few are structurally similar. There’s not a lot of vocal harmonies. I didn’t miss it. There also isn’t any searing guitar solos or intricate finger picking or banjos or mandolins. This is straight up alternative indie rock, right out of Austin. And it’s simply gorgeous, my darlings. So get out and see Brazos while you can, on this short tour. And enjoy this album, I know you will. By the way, that last track, “For So Long Now,” will just blow you away with it’s poetic, lyrical, beauty and yes, I’m gonna say it… awe, xoxo

Tracklisting

1. My Buddy
2. Kid
3. The Observer
4. Avignon
5. Pues
6. Day Glo
7. Tell
8. Downtown Boys
9. We Understand Each Other
10. For So Long Now

pre-order Phosphorescent Blues here, directly from the artist

Tour Dates
11/03 – Jackpot – Lawrence, KS
11/04 – 400 Bar – Minneapolis, MN
11/05 – High Noon Saloon – Madison, WI
11/06 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL
11/07 – Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH
11/09 – Horseshoe Tavern – Toronto, ON
11/10 – Il Motore – Montreal, QC
11/11 – TT the Bears – Cambridge, MA
11/12 – Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY
11/13 – Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA
11/14 – Rock N Roll Hotel – Washington, DC
11/16 – The Basement – Nashville, TN
11/17 – The Bottletree – Birmingham, AL
11/18 – The Earl – Atlanta, GA
11/19 – The Social – Orlando, FL
11/20 – Cafe Eleven – St Augustine, FL
11/22 – One Eyed Jacks – New Orleans, LA

ACL Stage Left – Brazos – Mary Jo from klru tv on Vimeo.

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