CD Review: “Close To Dark” – Brandi Shearer (2007)

Brandi Shearer? Another of those obscure singer-songwriters you’re so fond of?

Yep - not to be confused with the equally talented Brandi Carlisle, Brandi Shearer came to my attention last year when I heard a brief snatch of “Yes, Yes, Yes”, the second track on her 2007 album “Close To Dark”. I had no further information on this artist at the time – but the excerpt I was privy to was plenty to pique my interest and another impulse purchase resulted. Again, my risk-taking instinct where female singer-songwriters are concerned was well and truly justified with the acquisition of this album. Brandi is definitely flying under the radar as far as commercial success goes – but since she’s not prepared to sign up to the hits-by-the-numbers method that passes for plenty of popular music nowadays, then that’s not particularly surprising. Whilst this collection of old-time blues-rock, roots and occasional jazz-inspired songs won’t necessarily set the world alight, nor break entirely new ground, there is a comforting homeliness about the album in general, and Brandi occasionally surprises the listener with a few flashes of sheer brilliance, not least by virtue of a voice that sounds as if it comes from a much more mature, almost world-weary artist.

So what’s the low-down on this artist, then?

Brandi Shearer grew up on a farm in rural Oregon and says she learned about music by listening to her grandmother singing off-the-cuff but completely accurate versions of several old favourites on a Sears & Roebuck electric piano. Her father then unwittingly kick-started her path to musician-hood by buying her a guitar and paying for proper lessons when she was eight, no doubt a reward for the hours she’d spent shovelling horse $hit around the farm yard or more likely, to compensate for the family actually owning only two albums – one of which was the “War Of The Worlds” soundtrack, which she found far too scary to listen to! Soon the young Brandi was playing at school functions, proms and other events. A chance discovery of a jazz album during her late teens suggested that her normal singing voice should be her natural deep and throaty sound rather than the “girly” one she’d been trying unsuccessfully to cling to. Where other budding talents yearned to be picked up by a label, Brandi then took herself off to Hungary on an exchange programme and later France where a series of nights spent in small clubs and bars listening to American blues, jazz and other standards transformed her own ideas of what material she’d like to perform.

Returning to the United States, Brandi moved to the West Coast and put together a band, recording her first album “Museum”, a collection of songs that she’d sung the previous few years in Europe. A brief sojourn as rhythm guitarist in the band Drizzoletto followed, after which she again formed her own band and cut the album “Music Of A Saturday Night” in a single day. This was released independently, as was her follow-up “Sycamore”, which was recorded in a single, presumably frantic four hour long session. This latter album plus a few local gigs attracted the attention of San Francisco-based prog rock radio station KFOG and garnered rave reviews. Signed to the newly-formed Amoeba Records in 2006, she recorded “Close To Dark” that year and the album, produced by Larry Klein (the then Mr Joni Mitchell) was released at the end of August 2007. She’s also recently toured with one of my favourite bands at present, namely Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, so clearly can’t do much wrong at the moment!

A new album – “Love Don’t Make You Juliet” – is scheduled for release in June 2009.

Close To Dark

Brandi had tried twice to capture the sound she wanted for her first label release but Amoeba had rejected the album on both occasions – so she turned to bassist and big-name producer Larry Klein to come up with the goods, although at the beginning she didn’t really cotton onto his reputation. The humble Oregon farm girl and the “big name” though humble and “nice guy” producer soon hit it off – Klein’s major contribution seemingly being to boost her confidence – for someone who dominates the stage during her live performances, Brandi Shearer had gone through bouts of insecurity. Despite giving him control over the final end product of her already-completed but somehow unsatisfactory album, Klein refused to ask her to re-do the vocals, feeling that this wasn’t required.

Track Listing

Thirteen tracks are included for the lucky listener on this album:

01. Lullabies
02. Yes, Yes, Yes
03. Congratulations
04. Oh, Singer
05. That’s How You’ll Know
06. You’re Mine
07. Swampland
08. Jab Heaven
09. All I Have Left
10. I’ve Had Enough
11. Get Your Things
12. My Boy’s Coming Home
13. Pink Lady

Lullabies

“Been around the world so many times
Only recognise it from on high
Wonder what they hurry for
Because no-one sings lullabies no more”

Sometimes you buy an album on impulse, largely due to a particular song hitting you in some way - then when it arrives and you listen to it for the first time, it turns out to be a bit of a disappointment. Bearing in mind I had gone out and bought “Close To Dark” based on track two, there was always this possibility – but after just the first couple of bars of “Lullabies”, I thought to myself, “wow, who is this and why has it taken me so long to hear her?” Reeking of late-night ballads sung in hushed, sultry whispers over a smoky room, there’s arguably so much atmosphere contained in this song that you’re almost forced to cut it with a knife in order to listen to it properly. The simple piano accompaniment – a nine-note sequence that just repeats ad infinitum, together with a lazily-stroked drum – provides not only an intro but the whole shebang in terms of backing for Brandi’s voice. She needs nothing else, since once she starts singing, you focus entirely on her absolutely gorgeous tones, each world delivered and held with a conviction plus a grace that belies the artist’s true age. As an opener for the album, it showcases her vocal talents without any frills – a true delight for this reviewer’s ears, at least – and a complete surprise for me when I first heard it.

Listen to it here: http://www.myspace.com/brandishearer

Yes, Yes, Yes

“I felt it coming for you and me
Our bodies wracked and bent by things I couldn't see
You said, hold on tightly, you said, let it pass
It's just the agony of knowing nothing's built to last”

Whilst “Lullabies” is really rather good, I’d bought this album based on hearing a short snatch of this particular song, which demonstrates in spades that Brandi Shearer isn’t just some one-trick pony with a sultry voice and nothing else. Here she shows an impressive range, again something that really ought to belong to someone virtually half as old again. If that was the only reason for liking “Yes, Yes, Yes”, then it would still be worthwhile listening, but there’s more to it than just that. The urgent yet spartan guitar chords in the intro promise a rip-roaring ride yet this is but a mere pleasant deception – it’s probably as frantic as the backing gets, since Brandi’s deep delivery provides an anchor to stop it flying away. The occasional pauses in the accompaniment – the song’s quieter moments - allow the listener to hear each small nuance in her voice. That’s not to say this is a ballad – it’s not, and rattles along at a fair old if not pace, but again it’s led by her deeply rich and flowing voice rather than it following the melody. That’s especially true when she finally gets a chance to completely let rip towards the end, outstripping her accompaniment, leaving it almost for dead in her wake. Again, though, you hardly notice since her vocals are so engaging, elastic and even piercing – she’s definitely using her “big” voice in “Yes, Yes, Yes”.

Again, it’s on her Myspace site: http://www.myspace.com/brandishearer

Congratulations

“I remember now, it’s been ages
They still live in the valley
They’re selling the house
My life is a mystery
To them I’m a city girl now”

No, this isn’t a Cliff Richard cover (!) – Brandi dials the tempo right back down to something approaching “horizontal” for “Congratulations”, a two minute long song steeped in traditional Americana guitar ballad tropes, but still fronted by that wonderfully expressive, rich voice of hers. Wisely, said guitars drop out altogether just prior to the climax, allowing her to dominate the number completely. Elsewhere, though, they provide plenty of sympathetic accompaniment and even a highlight of their own during the break when they take on mildly Santana-esque proportions. Much slower than anything you’ve heard so far, it provides a comforting change of pace between the songs that book-end it.

Oh, Singer

“I'm livin' a life I can't slow down ‘cept with a song
And I wanna know how the people made it without the big corporations
And I wanna feel how the people lived when life was slow”

“Oh, Singer” was a minor hit for Jeannie C. Riley back in 1970 (although it hit No.1 in the contemporary Country chart) – Brandi takes this gospel-flavoured song and covers it very sympathetically. Whilst she’s not gone totally down the country-and-western anthem-ed approach of the original, you can detect slight nods to Riley’s seventies’ take here and there. A straight-up cover would not be outside her grasp, but she’s elected to pitch her own delivery along the lines of “Lullabies” during the first couple of verse, with only an occasional nod to C&W sensibilities – though you can tell that she’s simply itching to belt it out like the original. Finally, she gets the green light and there’s a complete culture change at the end of the second verse. The backing remains faithfully to the 1970 version throughout, however, though strictly in tone and enthusiasm rather than in terms of instrumentation. Brandi has the voice and the confidence to bring this song off with just as much conviction as Jeannie C. Riley did, though – with the virtue of Youtube, I’ve now heard the original and actually prefer this cover much more.

You’re Mine

“Well it’s a scandal the way you talk to me
Bet you could live with yourself, it’s a mystery
Though it’s plain that you’re no good for me
You’re a liar, a cheat, but you’re mine”

There’s more than a touch of blues to “You’re Mine”, but again the selling point for this song is the truly expressive delivery that Brandi brings, combined with the way the backing stops dead on occasions to allow her to punctuate the number with wonderful leaping changes of pitch and attitude. From the get-go, this one clearly charts a path that alternatively lurches from sultry to pointed and back again, the artist seemingly growing in vocal confidence throughout, matched somewhat by a superb guitar solo mid-stream. Brandi saves the best for last, though – almost growling her way through the final notes. In the end, it’s probably following the same sort of pace as “Congratulations” but feels much more relaxed due to the virtual stop-start arrangement – yet it comes across as one of the most accomplished songs on the album.

“Swampland”

“Don’t look at me
What a mess I made
But it’s clean and bright where you are
So you say”

You couldn’t really slow a song down much further than “Swampland”, otherwise you’d be probably stopping time itself. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, even for me, but you get the picture. “Swampland” is incredibly laid back – a jazzy, completely relaxed song completely suited to Brandi’s deliciously delivered vocals, here sounding sweeter than normal. Whilst she’s never likely to return to the “girly” voice of her uncertain teens, this is probably about as close as you’ll get to hearing what that sounded like. It’s an incredibly simple, totally stripped down number for the most part, one which opens with a jazz trumpet solo that occasionally pops up again to provide moral support – not that Brandi really needs it, but for a change the highlight here is the guitar led mid-section, a truly indulgent little piece that the rest of the song seems to pivot around.

CD Inlay and Artwork

There are no lyrics included for any of the songs – Brandi says “I can sing words like “ain’t” but writing them down makes me feel like I have to go back to English Remedial for Farm Kids!” They’re not available on the Internet either, and Brandi has only released a few songs’ worth via her Myspace page. There is no inlay booklet or sheet either – the digipak format of the album precludes this and there are only two photos – the front and back covers.

Conclusion

I’ve read elsewhere that “to say Brandi Shearer has a great voice is like saying the Grand Canyon is a pretty big hole in the ground” – and that’s probably quite true – there seem to be so many dimensions to her delivery that I’m literally struggling to describe her output. It’s far easier to point you all in the direction of her Myspace page and let you discover that wonderful set of vocals for yourselves.

If you’re into Norah Jones but long for someone with a slightly harder edge, then Brandi Shearer might well provide the sort of music you’re clearly hunting for. She’s never going to set the charts alight but that’s not what this album is about. Listen to it once or twice and you’ll be struck by just how good her voice really is, how it dominates the songs therein, her heart-shuddering style reminiscent of Fiona Apple or French chanteuse Madeleine Peyroux but ultimately falling between their two stools. There’s a good mix of styles and influences on “Close To Dark” – she even sounds like k d lang on “My Boy’s Coming Home” – so it rarely sounds repetitive.

In the end, a solid performance throughout and one that certainly justified my impulse purchase!