dan tumbleson - bran

Dan Tumbleson

bran
self-released; 2013

3.8 out of 5

By Dan Alcantara

The first release from Dan Tumbleson is just about as relaxing as an electronic album can get. He's been making music for years but only recently began to produce electronic music and says he hasn't looked back since. He's based just outside of LA in Thousand Oaks, California.

Musically, his debut EP, bran, is a mix of hip-hop and electronica. In the beats, I can hear influence from The Streets and work reminiscent of Courtland Urbano. The former is especially apparent on the track, "Orch g.” There's a string loop that immediately pulled me back to The Streets' amazing album Everything Is Borrowed. "mournings" is quite a mellow song that feels perfect to listen to when it's raining. Despite its title, it's actually somewhat upbeat as well. I love the vocal sample in the title track. I can't quite make out what the voice is saying but it feels oddly comforting.

"AS" brings guitar into the mix with great effect. It's also the slowest song on the EP but it doesn't drag at all. You could play it on a loop and just listen for a long while. "for eric" revolves around a synth melody that goes kind of all over the place while the beat and bass play off of each other to create a song that could just as easily have been two separate tracks yet sound better together. The final track, "knights,” continues the theme of the rest of the EP, combining slower tempo beats with beautiful synth pads and deep bass sounds that hit you right at the bottom of your heart. The song stays quite restrained until what would be the chorus in a song with words happens. That's when Tumbleson decides to let loose and play a great synth solo. I can definitely hear some video game soundtrack influence in that song.

This is an incredible debut from an artist that I know literally two things about. That he plays multiple instruments and that he's from California. I was about to groan over yet another electronic project, but this one really took me by surprise and turned out to be something that I absolutely love.

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