"Frequencies could crack my bones…"
Solo artist/musician David Avram Brown is starting to set a new standard for
greatness in the Indie/alternative genre…
With his fairly recent (well,
technically late 2006, but whatever) release of his EP, “Nowhere Left to Run”,
he’s creating sound waves that are starting to rock the nation! A long list of
radio stations across the nation has been playing his EP. But more recently
however, he’s made quite a name for himself on OurStage.com, where his hit
single “Nowhere Left to Run” won first place in a contest. But what really got
music enthusiasts attracted was the fact that another one of his songs, “Blip”
from the same EP was number 4 in that contest. He is now going to be featured
in “Relix Magazine” with “Blip” on their sample CD. And even more recently, he
has been selected to play live at Street Scene ’07 in San Diego with a number of big bands such as Muse and The
Killers.
Now for a quick review on the EP itself. The opening song “Blip” is probably my
personal favorite. Much along the same lines as Bryce Avery of “The Rocket
Summer”, he writes and records all of the songs and instruments himself. This
song in particular uses a decent range of instruments, from an acoustic guitar
intro, transition with a sweet slide on the bass, which is soon joined by
electric guitar, piano, drums, and wide variety of little “blips” and
tambourines and other little nuances that you keep noticing every time you
listen to it. The song is fairly upbeat and relaxing. The best way I know how
to describe it is a slowed-down “TRS” song, with a mix of “The Killers” and “The Postal Service”. But that really doesn’t do it justice. Overall, it’s just
plain good songwriting both lyrically and musically.
The next track (and single), “Nowhere Left to Run” is equally impressive. The
opening melody on the piano that flows throughout the song is intriguing in and
of itself. It feels like you’re entering a slightly depressing but cutesy
fantasy world. The lyrics don’t stray too far from this description either.
It’s a candy-wrapped emo song about, well, having “Nowhere Left to Run”. I’ve
sort of interpreted the lyrics in that everything never stays the same, but yet
nothing is new (history repeats itself) and no matter what you do to try avoid
the inevitable, you’ve got nowhere left to go. Yes, confusing and
contradicting, but really great songwriting again. Everybody will have their
own interpretation for the meaning of the song, which is good.
The
next track, “Sunshine” is a much more upbeat than the previous track, which
provides a nice break. It is very atmospheric and almost psychedelic. It’s a
great song, but really not up to par with the previous two tracks. “Glows in
the Dark” is better, but again, in my opinion, it doesn’t quite meet the high
standard of the first two tracks. Not saying it’s a bad song. No, not at all!
It’s still far better listening than most alternative/rock out there. The final
track on the EP “Obscenity” however, is my third favorite. A bit “heavier” (pun
intended) than the rest of the album, with a bit more rock than alternative in
it, it manages to keep things different while still maintaining the fact that
David Avram Brown (Benny Strange) is simply a great musician and songwriter.=
Overall,
the EP is a great listen, and definitely worth your time to check out. He’s
probably one of the best artists to come-about this past year. If I had to rate
it, I’d give it an 8.5/10. Also, as a little side-note, he is working on a new
EP/album to be released sometime this fall. When it releases, you can be sure
I’ll give you Rockworms the heads-up and the review!
Myspace (3 songs to listen
to!):http://www.myspace.com/bennystrange<
Website:http://www.bennystrange.com
Thanks for reading!
