Andrew Bryant – A Meaningful Connection
On A Meaningful Connection Andrew Bryant searches for that elusive link we all desire and calls out those who pretend everything is fine when it clearly is not. Instrumentation highlights Bryant’s baritone while recalling the causal country of Chris Isaacs as on “Fight” or neo-lounge of Faye Webster on “Private Window.” “I want to be like Christ but I don’t want to die,” he sings in mantra like fashion exposing the depth of emotional pain at play in this collection. This is counterbalanced with seemingly whimsical insights that hide deep sorrow, “There’s no turning back and there’s no wasting time, when you don’t come from anywhere and you leave nothing behind” from “Lying on the Rd” and sarcastic modern touchstones, “Folksingers on twitter, you know they’ve got all the answers.”
“Birmingham” finds Bryant on the ride home at the end of tour longing for that special someone at the end of the haul. As he longs for home, Bryant embraces technologically driven connections, “I’m looking for your name in my phone, I’m looking at my phone, want to see your face in my palm,” he sings. A meaningful connection? Maybe not but a connection nonetheless which becomes more difficult every day in our technologically isolating world.
“Drink the Pain Away” takes a turn toward the traditional country ballad with little more than acoustic guitar, vocals, three chords and the truth. In response to “Drink the Pain Away,” “Truth Ain’t Hard to Find” finds Bryant throwing out his last bottle in the songs initial lines in search of a more honest way to live with himself.
Album closer, “Liminal,” sounds otherworldly and from an entirely different record as it embraces syncopated drums, a fat funky bass line, and atmospheric synths. “Liminal” is the sole instrumental on a lyrically heavy album that jettisons Bryant’s folk songwriting traditional tendencies for a trip into our technologically driven present. At once out of place and yet somehow the perfect closer for A Meaningful Connection, “Liminal” reminds the listener of the hollowness of the synthetic when the natural is stripped away.
Striving for connection? Then join Andrew Bryant on a journey through his own struggles, success, and failures towards A Meaningful Connection. https://andrewbryant.bandcamp.com/album/a-meaningful-connection