Braelen Addison is a twenty-two year old music producer and audio engineer from Santa Cruz, California. Addison has had early success by scoring a documentary for PBS that made it into the Latino Film & Arts Festival in Palm Springs in 2019. On top of that Addison recently released Weather for Gardening.
Addison mentions “Weather for Gardening is an alternative rock/indie pop album. Think of acts like Rex Orange County, Kate Bollinger, or LUMP. I listen to a lot of The Beatles, Radiohead, Tame Impala, bands that are sonically dense but meticulous with their production, and I think there are elements from them that show up in my work.” The album begins with “Storm” which actually does sound like a storm at first. There’s a gust of wind and delicate instruments start to show up. I even heard what sounds like radio transmissions. Right around the one-and-a half-minute mark the instruments fuse together and a groove emerges. It sounds great. I liked the off-kilter instrumentation and approach. The vocals are well delivered. They are expressive, dynamic and emotive. Great opener. “Harbor” contains some piano and vocal work that by itself would have sounded good but the extra atmosphere really adds quite a bit. The synths sounds for the song weren’t typical but worked well. There are also some parts I just wasn’t expecting. The song has a nice blend of experimentation and accessibility. “Ripples” is an appropriate sounding title for the song. There are elements which sound like a ripple effect. The song is subdued and dreamy. It’s a song I found very relaxing at least at first until the song picks with energy after the two-minute mark. The song goes back and forth between minimalism and more epic moments that fully surround you. “Mildew” is one of the catchiest songs and the first one that did remind me of Tame Impala at least in terms of the music. It’s a fun tune and has a couple of notable grooves. The contemplative piano works well with the beat. “Window” is also quite catchy and I loved the vocal melodies. Weyes Blood came to mind. The instrumentation is top notch but perhaps the coolest thing was the mix of the warm melancholy and upbeat qualities. It’s a hard juxtaposition to create but works here. “Analogue” had a sense of longing to it while “Stiletto” might be the most single worthy song in the batch that contains some rocking moments. The smooth and fluid “Willow” is a fun one and “Winter” is an intimate folk song that transitions to lush beat. Last up is “Trellis” which contains cascading piano and vocals to create an intensely beautiful and intimate last impression. As an engineer myself I was more than impressed by the production which was all DYI. The songwriting combined with production created a great album from beginning to end. Recommended.
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