PT Bruiser

1. Middle Brother by Middle Brother

My big brother Jim (the middle sibling in our family) started telling me (the middle brother) about this album much earlier this year—February or March. He seemed so taken with the album that I knew I had to give it a listen, but I waited until it was available for cheap on Amazon MP3 (it’s only $5 there right now).

I first listened to it on a tour bus driving around the Scottish highlands, and I enjoyed it, but was not instantly sold. The songs are variously sung by Deer Tick’s John J. McCauley, Dawes’s Taylor Goldsmith, and Delta Spirit’s Matt Vasquez. Sometimes their voices are grating or harsh: not like Josh Garrels or Fleet Foxes. They don’t amaze you at first listen, and I don’t know about you, but lyrics often don’t sink in with me the first time I play an album.

But I kept listening, and one day I realized that “Million Dollar Bill” was one of the most poignant and sad songs I’d ever heard. Then I noticed that “Blue Eyes” was rockin’, fun, and touching in a startling, rough-around-the-edges kind of way. Then I started to sympathize with the drunken, screw-up son narrating “Mom and Dad.” Then the resentful passive-aggression of “Blood and Guts” resonated with me. Then the bitter, resigned devastation of “Theater.” Then the accusatory gloom of “Thanks for Nothing.”

As you’ve probably gathered, it’s not the most cheerful album. The narrators of the songs tend to alcoholism, helpless misery, and loneliness that seems deserved and yet sympathetic. But the folkiness and alt-country rock sounds are so good and fitting and the stories are so compelling that listening to Middle Brother is not an exercise in depression. I’ve enjoyed this album when things with women were good, bad, and neutral—it’s just an exceptional piece of art.

I’ve probably listened to this album on every road trip I’ve taken this year—in between home, college, summer camp, and elsewhere. It’s good all the way through, with the jams and dirges neatly interspersed to keep things from ever getting too glum. I’ve heard that Middle Brother may not release an album, due to tensions amongst the original bands that lent their frontmen to form this super group. That’s a cryin’ shame—maybe if enough of us buy this album, they’ll keep releasing to support their growing fan base.

And if not, at least it will take a great long time yet for me to wear out this album.