Brace/Choir hail from Berlin and you can certainly hear that coming through their sonic dreamscapes, but don’t let “Berlin” fuel a myopic prejudice. There’s much more going on that elevates them above a simplistic, hasty dumping into the “krautrock” pigeon-hole.
I had spit out a blurb that initially some of it reminded me of Pell Mell. Obviously Pell Mell is filtering their take through an American/Western sensibility, but they share some common ground. Much of it has that driving, throbbing forward pulse that Pell Mell mined so well. You don’t have to go far into the disc to hear it. Just spin track 1, Rebel Roar Cheyenne, and you may find yourself on an alternate route to Pell Mell’s Interstate. Throw some judiciously treated vocals into the mix, and you’re all packed and ready to go … windows down, motor purring, not too hot, not too cold, somewhere between waking and drifting off … Hey, is that two moons on the horizon line? Could be. There’s a definite dreaminess to Brace/Choir that takes their road-tunes a few inches above the usual blacktop, up and to the side. You can hear the same thing going on in Shame a Go-Go, but with a much bigger sprawl that both defines and expands what Brace/Choir is about.
The road doesn’t end there. There’s an elasticity to their approach that allows them to make rest stops at all kinds of junctions. The gentler Quantum, for as hazy and ethereal as it is, hints at the infancy heyday of rock ‘n roll with chiming guitars, rolling keyboards and layered harmonies. Pyro’s Dream makes a surprisingly subtle nod to American outfits such as Yo La Tengo, while Body on Loan has a muted swampiness mixed in that recalls more traditional/roots rock ‘n’ roll. Can’t Stay Up collapses much of their influences and motivations into a slightly rockier statement. When it comes to a close, the disc isn’t bringing you to the end of the road, and not back to the start either. Spin it again and chances are you’ll end up in some place different than the last time, but it still feels vaguely familiar …
That’s a lot to stir in the pot. And Brace/Choir pulls it off. They pull it off with a subtlety and focus that keeps those ingredients from getting muddied, which is crucial when you factor in longer running times than a standard issue pop song. It’s not about zeroing in on the destination, it’s about the road. It’s about those things you catch out of the corner of your eye as you chug along the highway. What was that? You think you know, you want to know … but your exit just came and went. That right there is a big part of this EP’s appeal; get back in the passenger seat {Brace/Choir is driving}, get back on the road and go find that exit. You’ll find it … but it might not lead where you expect.
I’ll be filling in for the venerable Wisdom Tooth on BombRadio this week, 1-3, right before Sunrise Ocean Bender. Those are mighty big shoes to step into …
