Tour De Vaap

I often find myself listening to “sad music.”  The type of songs that are sung by a quiet singer accompanied by just piano or guitar; songs about death or empty relationships.  These are the songs that make me feel all intense and emotional and “deep.” But those types of songs don’t always have to take on that atmosphere, as Brown and Blue so cleverly prove in their latest EP A Warmer Climate.  The LA band fuze Americana and Rock to make songs that sound upbeat and comforting, but on closer appearance aren’t as pleasant as they sound.  The album deals with loss, boredom and isolation tinged with summer bliss.  The opener, “Broked,” has an infectious chorus with a lead guitar to match, but the song refers to an emptiness that we often experience.  That feeling of having nothing to do and nowhere to go and hoping, praying that that can’t be it, that life is going somewhere.  And the album continues in that vain for the next three songs.  ”Stay” is classic americana that sounds somewhat like Philly band Dr. Dog.  ”City” features a killer slide guitar and singer Danny Nogueiras screaming out “I know, that I wanted more/but I feel useless here” to the beat of a snare drum as if marching to his determined fate.  The EP closes with the Futurebirds-esque “All Hail,” a powerful closer about loosing everything you love.  As different as the sound and lyrics seems, their is a truth to both that melds in a way rarely heard in music today.  Brown and Blue prove you don’t have to sound sad to be sad and that the summer isn’t all fun and games.  Check out a sampling below or on bandcamp and be sure to get the full EP which came out a few months ago.

-M. Kauf

Stay – A Warmer Climate

Tags: A Warmer Climate, album, americana, Brown and Blue, Folk, Indie, Rock