by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Washington, DC's Br'er play a particular brand of noise pop that distorts perception. The band's smooth edges and hypnotic pulse combines with lulling melodies to put you at ease, but there's an ever present sense of dread, something sinister is lurking in the shadows. Balancing beauty and darkness, their sound is both immediate and gradually unfolding, layering subtle nuance with syncopated rhythms and creating the type of gorgeous unease that could land them a gig in Twin Peak's Roadhouse. Set to release their shapeshifting new album Brunch Is For Assholes on October 13th via Blight. Records, the band take aim at DC's rapid gentrification with an array of deranged pop and dampened electronics.
On second single "Leaves Traces," Br'er does just that, floating gently along but the swarm is never far behind. Opening with a warped and deconstructed groove, the song presents a kaleidoscopic scene of syrupy pop, dynamic beats, and mounting tension. The song's warm hooks and its swelling harmonies (featuring guest vocals from Sleepy Kitty's Paige Brubeck) recall the dreamy reaches of "Across The Universe" while Ben Schurr's warbling croons of the verse slant closer to the eerie gloom of The Paper Chase. The song carries the record's themes of gentrification the yuppification of the city around them. Schurr shared:
"I wrote the lyrics to "Leaves Traces" while doing moving work, just thinking about how the condo I was moving people into used to be an entire community of people who were now displaced. The general feeling of indifference and lack of awareness that the people I would move seemed to possess when they would say things like "yeah! this is a real up and coming area". "Leaves Traces" is about the unseen consequences of apathy and the butterfly effect in ways, how one persons indifference or inaction can trigger a really negative series of events, both personally and politically."
Br'er's Brunch Is For Assholes is out October 13th via Blight. Records.