LA-based musician and visual artist G. Brenner, fka pastel, has announced his debut album Brushfire and shared the self-titled lead single. According to a press release, “Brushfire” serves as the thesis statement to the album. On the album, he says:
“Brushfire was recorded over a period of three tumultuous years, in which I bore witness to several catastrophic natural disasters in California and lost my mother to a battle with a very aggressive and quick-moving cancer. At its core, Brushfire is about being immobilized by worlds collapsing at a fast-forward pace and the struggle to find meaning in the remaining ruins.”
Lead single “Brushfire” opens with a static sample of Southern California’s distinct Santa Ana winds and Brenner’s tender, vibrato vocals before descending into a skittering, drum-line beat and ghostly piano plucks. The track imagines Brenner engulfed by a raging wildfire and wondering if he’ll end up in a world less far gone as he drifts into the void: “As I break away and float / Towards a different me, a different time / Maybe there I’ll feel whole,” he wonders. It’s a stark track that isn’t afraid to hold a mirror up to our fucked up reality and show its cracked reflection. Though just a taste of what’s to come, “Brushfire” demonstrates Brenner’s clear artistic vision and presents it in a way that feels both urgent and distinctly contemporary.
Listen to “Brushfire” below or on streaming platforms.
G. Brenner’s Brushfire will be released digitally and on cassette August 20 via Very Jazzed. “Brushfire” is also available on limited edition handmade 7” lathe cut picture discs from today. Order both from his Bandcamp.
