Grey Reverend Returns
With more music being made than ever before, it's often the simple things which stand out. No one will ever craft an entirely new chord sequence, but sometimes the familiar can still be striking.
Brooklyn's own LD Brown seems to have taken this to heart, with his songwriting focussing on simple, unfussy and yet oddly moving elements. Bumping into Jason Swinscoe at a local coffee shop, the then-unknown songsmith was invited on the road with The Cinematic Orchestra.
Becoming a close collaborator, LD Brown began using the name Grey Reverend. A debut album followed, released on Swinscoe's Motion Audio imprint, before LD Brown opted to take a back seat.
Well, now he's back. New album 'A Hero's Lie' will be released later this year, with Motion Audio once again providing the songwriter with safe harbour. Newly announced single 'Everlasting' is a powerful return, part of a four track document which demonstrates the breadth of Grey Reverend's songwriting.
Little Discourses
Fort Greene’s innovative singer-songwriter Grey Reverend and the beauty of quiet songs
Author: Alan Semerdjian | Published: Monday, May 21, 2012
Words: Alan Semerdjian | Photos: Kenny Janosick
“Fingerpicking is a tightrope walk,” he tells me, and my mind conjures an image of daredevil appendages dancing across a line high above the circus crowd. Then I think about Philippe Petit, master tightrope walker and subject of the Academy Award-winning documentary Man on Wire, who, on August 7, 1974, secured a wire across the tops of the Twin Towers one summer morning and played his mischievous and brilliant heart out. On what it means to be an aerialist, Petit once said, “To refuse to tape yourself to the rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge, then you will live life on the tightrope.”
This refusal to adhere to convention is at the core of what it means to be an artist no matter genre or discipline. I’m speaking with Grey Reverend today, and he knows a little something about challenges. Grey Reverend is the stage name for musician and songwriter Larry Brown. Some time long before the release of his first solo full-length album Of the Days (Motion Audio/Ninja Tune, 2011), Brown was diagnosed with a neurological condition called focal dystonia. This caused him to lose the ability to effectively use two of the fingers (the pinky and ring finger, specifically) on his left hand—a seismic game changer in the life of a working jazz and blues musician. Ultimately, Brown adapted by embracing an innovative fingering technique (aided in part because of a very large and dexterous thumb) and looking toward the folk tradition to help him make sense of the hand he was dealt (no pun intended). Thus, Grey Reverend was born. After he moved to Brooklyn’s glorious and verdant Fort Greene from Philadelphia to spend more time with his sister, he put together a sublimely intimate and stunningly evocative collection of quiet songs recorded in his apartment, which got a lot of attention. An extensive touring history in Europe and beyond with the likes of label mates The Cinematic Orchestra and others followed, as did a feature on NPR’s All Things Considered (“incredible…lovely to listen to”) and a song on NBC’s award-winning program Parenthood. Grey Reverend may be the best singer-songwriter you’ve never heard of…until now.
Our
time together this afternoon feels more like a study of the folk
tradition in a hip and smart, yet unpretentious university class than an
interview for a magazine. He cites the essentials. There was the
“English thing,” he says, and we discuss Richard Thompson, John Martyn
and Nick Drake. Before that, we mention Guthrie and then Dylan, of
course. Brown likes the Brazilians. “Bola Sete’s playing is probably one
of my biggest influences,” he says, and proceeds to also reference
Gilberto Gil. We hover in the mid-twentieth century, revel at Joni
Mitchell for a moment and Neil Young the next and then move into the
death of acoustic music in the 90s—though it was an important time for
the evolution of hip-hop. By the time we reach contemporaries like
Sufjan Stevens (“He’s kind of got it all.”), Iron and Wine and José
Gonzalez, I realize that he’s giving me some important context for what
he makes. “We’re into this sensitive kind of hipster thing,” he says,
“and there’s something about introspection that’s necessary now.” When I
ask why he thinks this is so, he replies, “There’s a move inwards.
People moved away from the convivial since…maybe…9/11. There’s a need to
return to simple music.”The irony, of course, is that Grey Reverend’s music is hardly simple. The sound, and perhaps in some cases the sentiment, may be simple but the playing and the delivery and the precision required to pull it all off requires a lot of skill and hours and hours of intense practice, which Brown certainly endured in the early days playing jazz. Of the Days is a stark and bare record filled only with Brown’s unique fingerpicking stylings and leathery baritone. Sounds and melodies meddle in familiar territory, but the chord progressions underneath and the subtle sophistication of the rhythms that drive the music are far from typical. This is exceptional music in the truest sense of the word. Exceptional, honest, complex and true.
Grey Reverend’s songs are “little discourses” into the nature of things. They sometimes read more like poems than narratives. On this topic, Brown says, “I rarely write a song with an intention on meaning,” which is something a New York School language poet might say, but don’t fear. While the album has its share of abstraction, there’s enough purely constructed pop songwriting (dressed in gray weather) to go around.
Grey Reverend’s music is not so much filled with love songs as it is filled with songs about the idea of love, the predicaments in which we find ourselves and the images that speak to or somehow parallel those predicaments. Take, for instance, the lovely “Road Less Traveled,” which states it quite bluntly: “It isn’t worth it keeping love so close/ revolving doors could make us wise/the planet Earth evolves until she explodes/and everybody dies.” And then the poignant “Box,” which hits it on the head so well that it’s worth sharing the whole thing right here:
some days seem to go so fast
getting lost in your photograph
taken just before we said goodbye
but I saved all that we could be
in a box made of memories
some say that it’s not good for me
it doesn’t matter where I go
up above or down below
no one knows the troubles I have seen
I don’t mind how you feel today
‘cause in time we all get thrown away
when it seems an expiration date is on our love
so don’t ask me why it takes so long
sometimes I see it when it’s gone
and some times are made for holding on
you could say it’s mystery
but everything is so clear to me
when I look inside that box
it’s to remind me
By the time we’re done talking about it, I’m wondering what the “box” might be twenty years from now. Maybe a photo album on Facebook or an archive on a Tumblr page or whatever else comes next. The need to look back will never subside. And that’s the thing about Grey Reverend’s work. It’s timeless. “I’m interested in making music that defies distortion,” he says, and by that I believe he means making something so true that it will be true for a long time. And lest you think that Of the Days is all about heart-shaped memories, there are also calls to activism (“One By One”) and even a semi-cryptic meditation on Barack Obama’s inauguration, “Altruistic Holiday,” a personal favorite. There’s so much poetic stuff and craft going on in these lyrics that it prompts me to ask him if he actually reads the genre. “Not really,” he says, “I read a lot of prose…biographies of Thelonious Monk…things like that.”
It is safe to say that Grey Reverend is sort of “big in Europe.” That phrase often elicits a smirk or a raised eyebrow, but in this case it’s true. His label is there. He tours there all the time. But he lives right here in New York City. This begs the question: What’s the deal with America? “I’m kind of a diva,” Brown says on the topic. “I get discouraged easily…it takes a lot for me to do it.” And by it, he means playing his brand of engaging and perceptive music in environments that support it and embrace it. He talks about the difference in audiences across the pond and the role of music in people’s lives. He’s not averse to shows in America, but they just don’t happen that often and aren’t that practical. It makes more sense—financially and artistically—to play Europe in rooms of hundreds and sometimes thousands of people in which “you can hear a pin drop.” And, you know, for a tightrope walker, environment is everything.
Cultural difference between continents? Too much competing for our attention here? Who knows why some of us haven’t heard of Grey Reverend yet. Good thing for us we can find his music just about anywhere on the web. His is a healing kind of balm made of the timeless shine that has lit up humanity’s ears and minds since the first note was sung and the first string plucked.
Ssssh. Quiet in the back. This is going to be good.
Alan Semerdjian
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| Photo by Douglas Seymour 2012 |
the lovely people at Paste Magazine have done
on Grey Reverend....
Go to pastemagazine.com to read the article
Also, check out our Soundcloud page for special
versions and outtakes from the Of The Days LP
Cheers
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Review in Stereoboard July 14, 2011 for Of the Days LP by Lee Johnston
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This is an album where the gentlest strum of an acoustic guitar sounds as powerful as the most emotive of guitar solos and where the delicate straining of vocal cords is all the more pleasing than the most finely tuned of harmonies. Opening track 'Altruistic Holiday' is as close as this record gets to perfect. Carrying with it an intimacy that makes one feel as if Brown is sitting next to you rather than thousands of miles away in his Brooklyn home, the track sets out the stall of the record from the start. There is nothing flashy here and nothing more is needed. What was often so good about folk records from the glory days, by artists like Nick Drake and John Martyn, was that they did not try to create an intimate atmosphere between the songs and the listeners. Frankly, there was no need. The simple beauty of the music was what mattered and this record takes this concept to heart. In an age in which musical excess is no longer measured as such and in which singer-songwriters often feel free to layer on extra instrumentation as if there is no tomorrow, this makes 'Of the Days' wonderfully refreshing to listen to. Any additions to the voice and guitar combination are subtle and enjoyable rather than being superfluous.GREY REVEREND – OF THE DAYS (MOTION AUDIO) - There are certain voices that instantly transform the aural landscape into something coloured with melancholy, but still make that location seem like the best place in the world to be. Grey Reverend, aka Larry D Brown, has one of those voices.
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Review By Don Sinnamon, Brisbane Street Press UK:
This is Brooklynite L.D. Brown telling his guitar stories about his life, quietly, soulfully and beautifully.
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Interview with JusLIkeMusic
Grey Reverend - Walk The Same by motionaudio
Interview with JusLIkeMusic
Grey Reverend - Walk The Same by motionaudio
Jus Like Music are very pleased to be able to bring you an upfront exclusive from American singer/songwriter Grey Reverend. A recent signing to Jason Swinscoe’s (Cinematic Orchestra) Motion Audio Records label – also home to Lou Rhodes – Grey Reverend‘s new album, Of The Days, is set to drop on 11th July.
A precursor to the album will be the lead single, One By One, available on 9th May, but today we have another track from the album to share with you. The track is called Walk The Same and you can download it for FREE courtesy of Jus Like Music and Motion Audio Records!
We also had an opportunity to grab a few words with Grey Reverend, about music, the creative process and the new album…
Jus Like Music: In your own words, who are you and where are you from?
Grey Reverend: I am L.D. Brown, the sole member of Grey Reverend, and I am from Pennsylvania, U.S.
JLM: How did you come to link up with Jason Swinscoe and the Cinematic Orchestra crew?
GR: I met Jay in Brooklyn in 2006, and I think that we were both in a vulnerable musical growth moment. We just seemed to connect on a lot of ideas about writing and creating music.
JLM: And what would you say it is that drives you to create music?
GR: Relationships, other musicians, boredom, I guess I don’t really know the answer to that.
JLM: So, if you weren’t creating music, what do you think you would be doing instead?
GR: Not creating music.
JLM: Do you have a set method or system when it comes to creating something new, or is the process a bit more random?
GR: I try not to limit myself too much when it comes to creating, so I’ve never come up with a method. I wouldn’t say that it’s random though, as that makes it seem like songs are just flukes or luck or fated etc. I don’t really know where most songs I write come from, to be honest. Sometimes I listen to a song I wrote years ago, and don’t understand why or how I wrote it. Maybe I’m possessed.
JLM: Maybe! With regards to your creative processes, and also the style of music which you make, are there any artists who inspire you specifically or that you have looked to emulate in some way?
GR: When I first began to write songs for guitar and voice I was really into Elliott Smith. I admired his use of metaphor in his lyrics, and the way his chord progressions juxtaposed the despair of his voice and words. I learned a lot from listening to loads of artists. Cynthia Mason was a songwriter who I worked with for years, and she had a wicked ability to write such smart and unique songs, yet they were not above your head and you could still enjoy them. I can’t say I’ve ever tried to intentionally emulate anyone, though you can’t avoid comparisons. Folks need to attach everything to something, it seems.
JLM: How would you, personally, describe your new album?
GR: This album is about as exposed as I can be artistically. It was recorded over a three-day period in my apartment and there are very few tricks to it. By that, I guess I’m saying that it is a collection of ten songs that have nothing to do with each other, save the fact that I wrote them. A lot of people seem to put out records that have heavy production and arrangement on them, and when you break the songs down they’re actually quite similar in structure. I guess it’s a different approach to pragmatism, but it’s quite transparent to my ears and it makes me feel cheated. I felt that it would be more challenging to not recycle anything musically, so that the album could exist in earnest. Oh, and it’s kinda mellow, and depressing at times. Which is cool, right?
JLM: Right. And what do you hope to achieve with your music?
GR: I would hope that the people who listen to it can understand that I am trying to write songs with a very acute sense of sincerity, meaning I would never like to be categorised or used as a subjective artist.
JLM: So, what are your plans for the future then?
GR: To grow old gracefully! To keep writing and learning about music and other people’s music through traveling and general interaction, and to someday release the hundreds of songs I’ve written over the years.
JLM: Well, thank you for your time. In closing, do you have any tips on other music that our readers should check out?
GR: As far as ‘new’ music that I’m hearing these days, I like the direction things are headed in. I’m really into the writng that The Bowerbirds are doing, Grizzly Bear, Sufjan, as well as Bon Iver. All of their members are super talented. I like James Blake’s LP. That being said, I’m a bit out of the loop with contemporary stuff.
Grey Reverend’s single, One By One, is out 9th May and the new album, Of The Days, is out 11th July. Remember where you heard about it first!
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