New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Dead Letter PR) LITTLE HOPES, the new album from journeyman New York musician JOHN BRODEUR, is now available everywhere on Mr. Duck/Sojourn Records, with distribution by Nail/Allegro.
In a glowing review of the album, arts-and-entertainment website Nippertown called
Little Hopes"a fine mix of small studio magic and guitar-fueled power-pop with Brodeur's always brilliant songwriting providing the glue." Read the full review at https://bit.ly/16HRHhQ.
Brodeur recently posted a pair of homemade lyric videos for the album tracks "Old Wounds" and "Favorite Feeling." The former follows a mysterious dancing light source, in keeping with the song's psychedelic soundscape; the latter employs some of YouTube's "best friends" to illustrate the joyful tone. Both videos are on the artist's YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/johnbrodeur1).
At a CD-release event on Aug. 17, before a packed room at the Living Room in Manhattan, Brodeur performed one-man-band re-creations (a la Jon Brion) of all 10
Little Hopes songs. His next scheduled "soloband" performance is Sept. 12 at the
Linda in Albany, NY, with Goldspot. Additional fall U.S. tour dates are expected soon.
Little Hopes is Brodeur's third proper solo album, and seventh release overall, following 2011 reissue/re-recording set Tiger Pop Ten, and the early-tracks compilation Young Man, Vol. One. A non-album single, "Daily Affirmation," was released by Family Records in May.
This year, Brodeur has appeared at the S.S. Cape May Festival (NJ), Move
Music Festival (NY), and Hudson
Music Fest (NY); and played tour dates with Todd Park Mohr, Trixie Whitley, and
Benjamin Francis Leftwich.
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The culmination of several years of "writing and re-writing, recording and re-recording,"
Little Hopes finds the restless performer tackling both matters of the heart and battles of the soul while leaping from quirky bedroom-pop to the kind of urgent guitar rock Performing Songwriter called "power pop at its finest." These 10 recordings balance the artist's expansive arrangement instincts with his love of lo-fi recording techniques, matching introspective but relatable lyrics to simple, memorable melodies. The result is a confident, tuneful collection that brims with personality—the sound of an artist staying unapologetically true to his own vision.
Brodeur performed, produced, and mixed
Little Hopes primarily himself, with input from Troy Pohl (Sean Rowe) and Dominick Campana (Dryer). Recording took place at several upstate New York studios and bedrooms and at Brodeur's home studio in Manhattan, using 4- and 8-track cassette machines, Pro Tools, and other recording devices. Mastering and additional mixing was added by Grammy winner Michael Tudor (Duncan Sheik, the Strokes) at Mama's Place in Woodstock, NY.
Lyrically, the songs on
Little Hopes are bound by the common themes of self-improvement and second chances. "Customarily, to say one has 'little hope' is to say they are in a dire situation," says Brodeur. "By pluralizing the phrase, I wanted to focus on the ideas and dreams we cling to when we are at our lowest points—the little hopes that help to pull us out of those dark places." Dig for your soul like it's buried alive / Dig until light comes through the other side, he sings on the unofficial title track "Dig," a skittering waltz rhythm underpinning the song's psychedelic overtones.
"
Be Careful" opens the set with a playful hand-clap rhythm, swelling keyboards, and a simple note of positivity: Wait in line / Be patient / All in due time. "Neil Young" further stresses the importance of looking forward: All these things will pass if you want them to, Brodeur sings, paraphrasing the late
George Harrison. The title honors a legendary artist that Brodeur considers his "spirit animal," while the song's loose Americana groove ironically resembles that of "
Sweet Home Alabama"—Lynyrd Skynyrd's dis track to a young Mr. Young.
"I saw this album as an opportunity to redirect the tone of my writing," he says. "Where some of my past material might have lingered on darkness or bitterness, these songs are balanced by a sense of optimism. The darkness is still present, but there's an emphasis on the possibility of positive change."
The album's not entirely about heavy spiritual stuff. The frenetic "One Man Army" is a rock & roll announcement about "having the dignity to admit you need help with the heavy lifting." This one also comes with a bit of an ironic twist, in that Brodeur performed the dense arrangement by himself. And "Favorite Feeling" is an ecstatic ode to joy that brings to mind power-pop heavies Jellyfish and Matthew Sweet.
Brodeur continues his fine tradition of cracked love songs with the multi-layered strum of "Oh My!" and the alt-rock-flavored "You Kill Me." "There's no blame or hard feelings in those songs," says Brodeur. "Just lonely people looking for something comfortable."
Rounding out the set is "Spit It Out," a new take on a song Brodeur recorded with his former band, Maggie Mayday. Happy birthday on the phone / 3 A.M. / You took 30 pills goes the unforgettable opening line of the melancholy rocker that Nippertown called "re-purposed to great effect [with] stanza after stanza of world-class lyrics."
Little Hopes is just one entry in Brodeur's busy itinerary. Over the past few years he's collaborated live or in the studio with a dozen acts, including U.S. tours drumming for Australian rockers The Morning After Girls and rekindled shoegaze band Highspire; plus stints as bassist for Brooklyn power-pop outfit The
Robin Electric and as lead guitarist with psych-blues duo Golden Animals. In 2012, Brodeur made a cameo appearance in the surreal "Lazuli" music video by Beach House.
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ABOUT JOHN BRODEUR
Since announcing his arrival with 2001's Tiger Pop, New York-based recording artist John Brodeur has produced a series of critically praised recordings as a solo artist and as frontman for power-pop trios The Suggestions and Maggie Mayday. Brodeur is a one-man band, in the tradition of Todd Rundgren and Jon Brion, and his work has earned comparisons to Elliott Smith, Beck, Matthew Sweet and
Robyn Hitchcock. Live, his presentation combines classic troubadour stylings with manic feats of looping and layering.
Brodeur has toured or shared stages with Greg Laswell, Scud Mountain Boys/Joe Pernice, Fountains of Wayne, They Might Be Giants,
Glenn Tilbrook, TV On The Radio, O.A.R., Mike Doughty, the Whigs, the Bravery, Gavin Degraw, and many more. He has performed at CMJ, SXSW, WordXWord (Pittsfield, MA), and Tulip Festival (Albany NY), and his music has been used on NBC, A&E, VH1 and Discovery.
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UPCOMING LIVE DATES
Sept. 12 - Albany, NY - The
Linda *
* w/ Goldspot
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IN THE PRESS:
"Pop records like this may be scarce, but when they are of this caliber, they won't remain under the radar for long." -Performing Songwriter
"In an age of throwaway pop, these recordings immediately stand out like a sore thumb." -LMNOP
"A gifted songwriter who has the rare ability to craft catchy pop hooks without relying on stock pop-song structures." -Metroland
"[Tiger Pop is] one of the best guitar pop albums of the current millennium." -Pittsburgh Daily News
"A delicately crafted wake up call. This is a brilliant album." -Powerpopaholic
"A stoic sentimentalism that may well catapult Mr. Brodeur into the sort of alt-rock pinup status that [Lou] Barlow once enjoyed." -PopMatters
"An amusing take on matters of the heart. Funny in a bittersweet way." -New York Post
"Well-crafted songs . . . fascinating imagery and personal lyrics with great musical arrangements." -The Inquisitor
Website: https://www.johnbrodeur.com/
