Songs From The Deep Sleep by Brandon Wilde

That is the easy part of the review.

The trickier part is to try and explain why this record works so well. On paper, it shouldn’t. There is no lyrical abrasiveness, unexpected twists of artistic adventurism (outside of a brilliant use of key modulation and some fantastic bridges), unusual instrumentation, quirky vocals...and in the past, I have made similar observations before subsequently trashing a record. Being active in the music scene, I get a chance to meet and befriend many of the artists whose records I review. “Putting your best self into your music” is a phrase that gets tossed around a lot, and my complaint has always been that the qualities that artists choose to leave out of their work would often make it more interesting. Usually I make an observation about what is missing in a collection because I know for a fact that choices were made during the recording and sequencing process for purely commercial purposes. “Change that swear word.” “Leave this song off.” “Put this song at the end of the CD so it won’t scare off the listener.” I hate decisions like that…they should be made subconsciously as part of the songwriting process or they shouldn’t be made at all. If you write a song, it (or a song like it) should be represented in the collection you present to the world.

No such sacrifices have been made with this record; it goes down like a good Beatles iMix because that is who Brandon Wilde is. “You can do what you want to do today” is a line from the opening track and it lays the groundwork for the rest of the record. Doing what you want to do is not as easy as it seems in the music industry. Songs From the Deep Sleep works because Wilde hasn’t hidden anything on this project. See, he isn’t (generally) quirky. He isn’t abrasive. He is an extremely talented sweetheart who loves the Beatles and knows how to make a fantastic CD. You may never get to meet Wilde personally, but listening to his new collection of songs, you will get as pure a representation of his soul as an artist can put on record. That, my friends, is a major achievement, and should help him win over a lot of new fans.

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