A beautiful debut offering from Little Brother – the musical brainchild of Dan Brunskill.
The EP was written by Dan alongside Little Brother musicians, David Robinson and Jono Croucher. Fraser Browne (Paper Cranes) mixed and produced the self-title EP and co-wrote the final song ‘Salt & Light’.
Little Brother is a delicate, indie-folk driven EP, opening with ‘Thrown in the Ocean’. Some tasteful guitars create a lush soundscape in the depths of this song that supplement the driving drums and the meaty acoustic guitar licks.
‘Darkroom Chemicals’ again shows the alternative sensibilities of the record, with synth and keys surrounding the long bowed cello and introspective lyrics. We get a glimpse into the slight melancholy of Dan’s lyrics.
“How shall I live? Shall I sing until I’m cynical?”
It’s the second half of Little Brother that took our fancy.
’Nocturne for Laura’ was written with Jono Croucher, and you can hear the arrangement for cello immediately with beautiful intricate guitar work and cello melodies. It’s not often a four track from a songwriter will feature an instrumental track but this song is our highlight. Simply done, beautiful work from both instrumentalists.
‘Salt & Fire’ is the single of the record for us, Dan’s voice is perfectly augmented by guitar harmonies, making for interesting, constantly moving and slightly off-kilter melodies and interludes. The song builds, with keyboards, layers of instrumentation and a simple drum beat before the cello cuts through the mix.
Credit where credit is due to Fraser and Dan for a beautiful job at production.
Closing out the EP are the impeccable and touching lyrics of ‘Salt & Fire’.
“I’m not the one that you’ve been searching for, though i got places more, for you to hide.”
(FINN MCLENNAN-ELLIOTT