If you shared the same name with four men responsible for your existence, you\u2019d probably find a way to forge a distinct identity. For Martin McNulty Crane V, a name change discovery came from a dream where a woman yelled \u201cbrazos\u201d in his face. It\u2019s unusual and different, the sort of thing you might look for if your family can\u2019t be bothered to buy a book of baby\u2019s names.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s under Brazos that Crane paints his musical portraits, and while the band name comes from a curious event, the music itself has a familiar, redundant feel. It\u2019s not as rote as giving the firstborn son the same name over and over, but then again how often is a band compared to Vampire Weekend?<\/p>\n
In Brazos\u2019 latest release Saltwater, Crane and bandmates Spencer Zahn (bass) and Ian Chang (drums) have found some fresh territory, but not enough to set it on a path not already blazed by others.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d be more enthusiastic if Saltwater wasn\u2019t so tepid across the first foursome of tracks. The gentle acoustic work and up-tempo drum beats are decently coordinated, but a predictability filters through, whether it\u2019s the paint-by-number synth solo in \u201cAlways On\u201d or the slide-guitar sound throughout \u201cHow the Ranks Was Won.\u201d By the time \u201cOne Note Pillow\u201d is over, it\u2019s hard to recall what went on in the first 16 minutes of music.<\/p>\n
But upon the fifth song \u201cValencia\u201d (five \u2013 I see a pattern), the album becomes more playful and inventive. While Crane\u2019s voice was manageable up to this point, it was one-note more often than not. Now Crane\u2019s pacing is lively and fun as he sings a song about the ills of gossip, giving \u201cValencia\u201d the aura of a European getaway. \u201cIrene\u201d has a Latin jazz bop to it, the instrumental moments are light but in the right spots \u2013 it\u2019s one of the album\u2019s longest songs but breezily moves along.<\/p>\n
The title track is ranging and literary, speaking of Moby Dick while pushed by a shuffling, old country clip. The song becomes a riotous affair of drums and guitar before falling into a chorus of falling raindrops. It\u2019s a dynamic piece of song writing.<\/p>\n
Brazos has the strength to flex some musical muscle, but it takes time to get there. Crane can make a name for himself if he doesn\u2019t linger too long on the musical mavens before him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If you shared the same name with four men responsible for your existence, you\u2019d probably find a way to forge a distinct identity. For Martin McNulty Crane V, a name change discovery came from a dream where a woman yelled \u201cbrazos\u201d in his face. It\u2019s unusual and different, the sort of thing you might look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1267,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[344,345],"class_list":["post-1266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-review-brazos","tag-saltwater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1266"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1268,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1266\/revisions\/1268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abandonedcouches.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}