Darrin Bradbury – Artvertisement
On his second album for Anti, Artvertisement, Darrin Bradbury continues to build on the small slice of life stories. A diatribe on feeling small in a big industry and sacrificing art for sales, Artvertisement finds Bradbury balancing intimate portraits with big statements in a search for how to fit into this big crazy mean world without losing one’s self. Bradbury writes short songs and this record contains some of the shortest of his career. In just a quick minute or two, however, Bradbury draws you in and leaves you wanting more. When you get to the end of Artvertisement, your first impulse will be to press play again.
Bradbury sets the stage for rest of the album with the first line of “Field Notes from a College Town” when he asks, “Why you got to be so serious kid? You are where you are and you live where you live.” Acknowledging the world he lives in without being so serious is at the heart of Bradbury’s songs providing a kind of lived philosophical approach to living.
The title track, “Artvertisement” presents Bradbury’s experience with record industry execs. “Exile in Myrtle Beach” finds Bradbury embrace his penchant for silly scenarios and whimsical word play over an easy beach rocker that evokes sun and salt water in the air.
“Deanna, Deanna” is reminiscent of The Minus 5 while “Shiny Town” comes across like a long lost Daniel Johnston ditty. Album closer “Mikey Shoulda Died” reflects on the rise and demise of a local scene maker; what happens when the crowd changes, the sound shifts, and, ”there’s a sadness in his smile that says far more than his songs these day,…Mikey shoulda died back there with the scene.”
For fans of John Prine, Todd Snider, and all other songwriters with a wry sense of humor and a side almost too sensitive for this world – check out Darrin Bradbury’s Artvertisement, recorded at Trace Horse Studio, out now.
Find the album, which was co-produced with Preston Cochran, Scottie Prudhoe and Ryan Sobb; mastered by Kim Rosen; and features Julie Ridge, Chase Ballenger, Kari Pennise, Irakli Gabriel, Cameron Carrus and more here: https://www.anti.com/artists/darrin-bradbury/
https://darrinbradbury.bandcamp.com/album/artvertisement