Barry Brusseau: Royal Violent Birds (Vinyl LP)
This comes on stunning half black and white vinyl. Also includes free digital download of album. 140 gram vinyl encased in a beautiful reverse board jacket, with a nice lyric sheet inside. It's been said many times, 'it's not the destination, it's the journey,' and nothing could be truer for Portland, Oregon-based singer-songwriter Barry Brusseau, who spent twenty years playing everything from metal to hardcore punk, with fifteen of those years spent touring in the pop-punk band The Jimmies, who signed to Lookout! Records before eventually disbanding. That journey lead to Brusseau's complete one-eighty with the release of his debut solo album, A Night Goes Through, released exclusively on vinyl and digitally. Following it up with an EP on CD with handmade packaging, Brusseau is ready to return with his sophomore full-length, the stark, folk-based Royal Violent Birds. 'I'm very insecure about the imperfections of my voice, and spend lots of time beating myself down about it. I'm feeling accepting and much more confident on this album, though. American Idol, I'm not coming. But, I'm proud of this album,' he says with both joy and laughter in his voice. 'I wanted it to feel a little more like a David Lynch ride, artful creepiness and soothing hypnotics. This is closer to the live show.' For the next two years, he put $50.00 away from every pay check, saving up enough money to record at Portland's Type Foundry Studio with Adam Selzer. Instead of the loudness of his other projects, Brusseau went in an opposite direction, using the subtleness of an acoustic guitar and the tenderness of his baritone and created real personal and heart warming music, music that cut straight through any fabrications or fluff, sounding as raw and immediate as it did in his bedroom. 'I would make demos of [these songs] on my four track, and play them back for my wife,' recalls Brusseau of how A Night Goes Through eventually came to life. 'She encouraged me. [She said] I should try and just do this myself. I set myself up with some voice lessons, and started the horrifying journey of getting out in front of people and playing open mics.' Brusseau had found a new sound for himself, no longer hiding behind loud guitars, the nakedness is all that appealed to him. 'It's minimal in instrumentation and big on heart. It's personal and intimate,' he says, describing his style of atmospheric indie-folk. He played out as often around town as he could, always around his work schedule ('I'm a simple laborer for a living,' he says), and continued to write songs. He followed up A Night Goes Through with a limited edition EP, all while beginning to work and save up to release another full-length on vinyl, which would become The Royal Violent Birds. The title comes from Brusseau contemplating band names while passing the time at work. It would eventually become the album's title track. 'During work one day I was contemplating band names. I just dig the word 'royal,' so I started there,' he recalls. 'The work I do gives me a lot of time to brainstorm. 'Violent' is another impactful word, and I liked the two together. I thought it should be softened at the end so it came to rest as 'The Royal Violent Birds.' A band title for a future project maybe? I just wrote it down, and let it rest.' He continues, 'One fine day at work I was standing next to this line of industrial battery chargers. There was a loud hum coming from this team of electric juicers. In the key of that droning note I started singing to myself. The melody and first verse of 'The Royal Violent Birds' just spilled out. As I worked I pulled my note book out regularly as the rest of the lyrics came very quick. It's about the unknown, and not being afraid. The violence and chaos of mother nature are good.' Whereas his debut was recorded completely analog, this time Brusseau entered Jackpot! Studios with renowned engineer Larry Crane to record digitally. 'On the first album I had the pleasure of working with Adam Selzer at Type Foundry Studios, and going all analog. This time I went to Jackpot! Studios to work with Larry Crane. Larry recorded some of my old punk stuff - The Jimmies and Legend Of Dutch Savage. His resume is full of great projects, including Sleatery- Kinney, Quasi, Elliot Smith, and of course, Tape Op Magazine. If anyone would understand using the digital realm to achieve a great sounding vinyl it would be Larry,' Brusseau comments. He also notes that, while on the first record he created all the instrumental parts and directed the players, this time around he let the musicians use their own creativity while at Jackpot! 'Trusting others' talents paid off,' he says with a smile. 'I didn't envision the creative contributions all the players made.' Guest musicians for this record included his brother Tim Ward, who played with Brusseau in The Jimmies, as well as Sally Ford and the Sound Outside's Tyler Tornfelt on bass, Double Clicks' Aubrey Webber on cello, and jazz horn player Michael Paul. Making The Royal Violent Birds was a test of Brusseau's patience, however, due largely to financial constraints, taking big gaps in-between recording sessions while he saved up money to pay for the recording. 'I was, and am, surprised with my patience [with this record]. I had to go along as money would permit, and that meant three or four month gaps in recording sessions,' he recalls. Cracking a smile, he jokes, 'I wasn't worrying about the big buzz on me dying out.' Though, even when he thought the record was done, he wasn't shy to go in and add a bit more to the record. 'After the recording of the album was done a friend gave me a tape of a show I had recently done. I was experimenting that night with some stuff, and listening to the recording I knew I had to go back into the studio and add that stuff. So the vision can change, and sometimes if it's not too late so does the original idea.' Another thing the record taught him was that sometimes you get the best performance at home, in a comfortable surrounding, which was the case for the song 'Empty Head,' which was recorded on Crane's laptop at Brusseu's residence. 'We did vocal takes in the same room I practice in. I liked the comfort of home, and would consider doing all vocals this way in the future. This is a definite advantage of digital recording.' With the recording done, Brusseau is once again excited to realize his dream and release the record on vinyl and digital only. 'I grew up loving records. Coming home after buying one, and reading everything inside and out. Holding it while listening, and letting my imagination run wild. I decided that's what I wanted to do, make the kind of record I would have loved to get. So, I made this record for myself, because I wanted nothing more than to hold the final product in my hands. If you believe that the format of vinyl is the best way to experience music than it's for you too. It was a labor of love, as was my first vinyl release. Again, I started saving $50 a paycheck for two years - and that still leaves me a little shy. I'm willing to sacrifice all logical means of business sense to achieve a record that will make me smile. To hold the record in my hands and feel only the way vinyl can,' he says of his love of vinyl, proud to release something on vinyl himself. 'Now the heart of this record is the music, but the soul of it is in the senses of sight and touch. It's really hard to achieve the same aesthetic in any other medium. I wanted to make the kind of record you put on your turntable, and then sit down and experience the package. It's that chance to fully express your imagination (both yours and mine).' Now that the record is done and mastered, Brusseau can listen back to it, playing his test pressing of the vinyl, and smile ear to ear, hoping that the listener can feel and experience the dream-state of the music that he does. 'Playing at home I'm looking to put myself into a dreamy state,' he says. 'I hope that can happen to Pig Frost, Across the Fire, The Royal Violent Birds, Love and Adoration, Empty Head, Home Sick Yawn, Plymouth Fury 73 (Car Ride), Till the Wind Blows Everything
