Brendan Losch was waiting all this time and I almost let him get away…

~~Come Home mp3~~ Brendan Losch Demos 2008-9

~~Need You Now mp3~~ Brendan Losch Demos 2008-9

I’m gonna try really hard to not gush about Brendan Losch, only because he lives in my own little city, probably on my own little side of town. He goes to the shows I go to, he blogs in my circle of bloggers, he tweets with my twitter gang. But fuckme, he sings and plays guitar (among other instruments) unlike anyone else I personally know. I popped his CD into my laptop tonight, hand labeled with a black sharpie, “Rough Demos 2008-9″ and in seconds I was stunned… breathless. And I’ve had this on my pile of CDs to review for a month at least now. Damn!

Armed with an acoustic guitar, sometimes with an ukelele or banjo, he delivers “atmospheric” music that isn’t at all dry and emotionless as that term usually connotes. These songs are intimate, simple and haunting. Brendan’s voice aims high on some like “One Day You’ll Fall Deep Down,” never missing the mark, and on others, settles comfortably for most of the way before swooning upward at just the right moment, as in “Back In Line.” These are songs written for someone, perhaps for every person who’s disappointed us or left us or fallen short of our desires. Maybe I’ve come under Brendan’s spell so easily because I’ve been feeling this way lately too. I’ve been fucking things up and disappointing people and leaving and falling short, just as much as I’ve felt other people being that way to me. And so when he sings, “I’m the low, low, lowest I’ve ever been…” I feel that along with him. But it’s set to the rather fast strum of a damn ukulele! I hate when they do that to us, don’t you? Making something beautiful and even cheery out of misery! Pfft! I jest, of course, “The Lowest I’ve Ever Been” is a great song that yes, does make me smile at my own dark mood, as it should!

But wait! There’s more. He’s got two LPs out, Until We Meet Again and Listen With Your Heart and they are wonderful. Go buy them at once and support this talented, local musician (to us Chicagoans!). His bandcamp.com page has 50 songs for free download. The words on his MySpace page, next to his name, are “Low and Slow” and no, darlings, that’s no euphemism for his bedroom skills, as far as I know. His music is just all that, sung quietly… strummed slowly… hummed, and whispered, and even softly howled just a bit, in a lonely enough way. It’s achingly good, go get you some,… and commiserate with me a little bit today? xoxo