Sean Hayes is aware of tips on how to make an introduction depend earlier than he sings a phrase. The title observe opens with intricate guitar strums and regular drums earlier than his voice even enters, and that persistence units the tone for the entire document: ten songs that sit with mortality and uncertainty with out dashing to elucidate them away, whereas nonetheless leaving room for love, gratitude and connection.
Hayes has described Brilliant on Brilliant as “a straightforward drive to a favorite vacation spot with that particular person you possibly can open up to or snigger with, that one that can level out the darkish and herald some mild,” and that’s the stability the album retains returning to.
Brilliant on Brilliant would be the San Francisco Bay Space singer-songwriter’s tenth launch. Hayes recorded its ten songs along with his long-time band in rural Sonoma County, capturing them enjoying collectively within the studio. Its people base carries a robust soul affect, with blues giving some tracks a rougher edge, whereas the bass retains a heat, rounded presence beneath all of it, an interaction between voice, guitar and horns that solely comes from musicians used to studying one another in a room.
The title observe’s opening carries by way of the remainder of the track. Hayes nonetheless has the gritty edge that makes his voice immediately recognisable, although the efficiency right here carries a soulful heat. He sings about catastrophising and feeling as if he’s spent a lot of his life falling, and the repeated assurance that he’s doing all proper sounds partly meant for himself, the companion within the track already doing its job of mentioning the darkish.
In a 2021 KQED interview, Hayes described his songs as “little mantra trances” used to recollect non secular or philosophical concepts, and known as himself a words-first songwriter. That description suits “Sealed Wax,” the place a pleasant horn association enters earlier than his vocal slips in so naturally it’s straightforward to neglect he was absent firstly. The tempo drops from the opening observe whereas the phrases take a look at time leaving its document on the physique. The lyric breaks clauses throughout quick strains, every passage ending on feeling, first as a press release, then as a query. The later verses nod to Leonard Cohen by way of “Hallelujah” and “tower of track.” Then comes “Massive Papa,” probably pointing to The Infamous B.I.G.’s “Massive Poppa,” an unlikely pairing. It’s the horns that hold pulling us again.
The album pushes furthest into what that mild is about towards on “Sometime We Will All Be Timber.” Layered hums open the track, rising and falling like a wordless chant, earlier than Hayes sings about changing into a part of one thing bigger, then turns to the struggling of a kid caught in battle and the boundaries of what any of us truly perceive. When phrases fail him, he concentrates on respiratory and getting his physique proper. His vocal stretches round these repetitions, rising into cracked calls because the band holds a low pulse beneath him.
Voice and guitar alone carry “Kehoe.” A go to to an previous saloon leads right into a drive in the direction of Kehoe Seaside, the place the falling rain turns into tied to individuals who have slipped away, giving the track the texture of a people story informed from reminiscence. Ariel Engle of La Power seems close to the ultimate line, extending the vocal for a couple of seconds earlier than disappearing once more. What follows barely counts as its personal track: a Southern guitar twang and a toe-tapping beat carry “Let the Blackbird Fly” by way of a gradual construct and a sparse lyric, nearer to an interlude caught in movement than a vacation spot in its personal proper.
“Zombie City” turns the album’s gaze outward. A bluesy groove carries a hook constructed from Hayes’s repeated instruction to get out, and the second verse brings in a senator with a welfare pension, then Sunday-morning hypocrites who hold speaking whereas nobody listens, the bass nudging the track ahead because the vocal turns into extra insistent.
Two older items sit close to the tip, pared proper again. “Eyelids (Revisited),” first launched on the 2011 assortment Outtakes & Alternate options, retains its looping rhythm and dirt-road people intimacy, Hayes’s voice carrying a heat crackle over guitar as mountains crumble and the sky grows dim. It’s adopted by “Wasp,” the album’s shortest second, much less a track than a fraction from a unfastened studio jam the band determined was too good to discard.
Ben Morrison and Erika Tietjen be a part of Hayes on “Moonshine Tree,” which follows a laid-back Southern groove. Its photos arrive like tales shared over drinks, from a card recreation to the identical kingfisher seen beside the highway, the bass transferring freely beneath the guitar whereas holding the track regular, the companionship Hayes described in his personal phrases made audible in the best way the visitors fold into his sound.
Tori Elliot of Victoria Victoria joins Hayes for “Cool Hand (Revisited),” which closes the album. An atmospheric backdrop gathers round his voice earlier than the extra vocals herald an virtually gospel-like sound. The opponent within the lyric can’t be overwhelmed, and the bass retains transferring beneath Hayes as he will get as much as face it once more.
Brilliant on Brilliant will likely be launched on September 15. Pre-save the album on Spotify and observe Sean Hayes on Instagram or Fb for launch information and tour updates.
Hayes will tour the document by way of September earlier than an album celebration at The Impartial in San Francisco on November 14. Dates and ticket data can be found from his official tour web page.
