MUSIC >> Suddenly Bright Out Info Sheet

the new record

“It always begins with a choice, right? Stay awake or go to bed? Do it now, do it later? It's no different when you're writing; you want to commit to something, you gotta leave the rest behind.”

With SUDDENLY BRIGHT OUT, Smith abandons the big picture and embraces a journey filled with specific, personal discoveries that he follows devotedly. His curiosity and dedication bring to mind a less strident Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), and his method recalls the ingenuity a younger, tougher David Bowie.

Smith has won recent acclaim for his avant-garde theatre work, and his literary roots surface in the album's rich, detailed lyrics -- stories Smith populates variously with images of the night sky, visions of trust and betrayal, and dreams of flying. His knack for narrative structure is apparent in the album's pacing. Imagine PJ Harvey's post-punk blues yielding naturally to the aching lo-fi folk of Badly Drawn Boy. Structure is a necessity for Smith, who claims the eight songs on SUDDENLY BRIGHT OUT correspond directly to the eight hours between 11pm and 7am that he almost never sleeps.

The album opens with "Stop Comets," one of several jagged riff-driven numbers. The melody clings stubbornly to a lean drum beat over which Smith declares, “Every safe bet ends up worthless.” It's a theme that reoccurs throughout SUDDENLY BRIGHT OUT , extending even to the recording process.

Smith played nearly all the instruments himself, and engineered most of the recording sessions as well. Exceptions were made on two tracks that include Dave Robinson (Drums -The Scabs) and George Reiff (Bass - Black Crowes' Chris Robinson). The album was mixed by Austin's “Producer of the Year”, Lars Goransson (The Cardigans, Fastball, Shane Bartell). “I wanted flexibility, you know? And part of that meant making the record alone, as much as possible. Plus I thought it ought to have a solitary feeling -- but I didn't necessarily want it to be spare, instrument wise.” And it isn't. SUDDENLY BRIGHT OUT enjoys a wide variety of sonic textures.

What grounds the listener in this shifting landscape though is the directness of Smith's vocal delivery. "Aloud," the album's closing track, illustrates this point distinctly. While the acoustic guitar and minimal keyboards are suitably atmospheric, the vocal is focused, carefully tracing the story's strange mysticism and never wavering from its course.

The album's handle is undoubtedly, "All Our Own Way." Through lurching guitars and looped rhythms, Smith reminds the listener, “We should have this… all out loud, starting now!” If you have a car, go get in it, roll the windows down and drive fast with this one turned way up.

Based around a simply strummed guitar, "February (Someone Hears)" is haunting and austere. It transitions smoothly into "The World Comes Back," an alternately intense and relaxed track that gathers its rolling momentum from a classic riff pounded out on acoustic guitar. But the bridge section turns those three rock chords on their heads, creating a sophisticated harmonic pattern that contrasts the song's otherwise primitive approach.

On SUDDENLY BRIGHT OUT Smith makes good use of his spontaneous and relatively solitary process. A case in point is the hostile political scorcher, "Not on my Side." After indicting the subject for “doing what they say, and talking loud” he repeatedly screams the title phrase -- 18 times -- until a quiet voice is heard deep in the background. “I don't like it loud. I just like it low." It's Smith's two-year old daughter in the studio with him, who instantly becomes the focus of his attention (with the tape still rolling). “How do you like my music?” he asks her, oddly sincere. After a pause of several seconds she replies simply, “good."

The record's lyrical touchstone and emotional center is a striking poem Smith recites near the end of “Suddenly So Bright”, the title track. This dirge-like acoustic guitar driven tune is so awash in feedback that not a single word he sings is clearly heard until the music gives way to the poem's opening lines: “I kiss you/when I am lost/ and you are new.” “Suddenly So Bright” evolves into a fluid, ambient, instrumental called "Anniversary," which relies on a mellow piano figure and a saxophone to conjure Mind Bomb era The The. In a plaintive baritone Smith delivers a single lyric, “I only want you”.

Throughout the course of the record Smith offers up several scenes of people waiting -- for a solution, for their lover to return, and especially for the sun to rise, but the record's final image is perhaps the most interesting. After unpacking the contents of a recent dream, Smith sings of his desire to make it more real. The album's last lines read, “On a full moon lit night sky/ how I'd be so proud/ if I could dance like this/ aloud."

If Smith is waiting for a breakthrough to end his journey, he need not wait any longer. By the end of SUDDENLY BRIGHT OUT, the sun's first light is sneaking through the clouds and he has, in fact, danced aloud.

- Sasha Kevlar