David Franklin Courtright “boy”
Americana Highways brings you this premiere of David Franklin Courtright’s song “boy” from his forthcoming album Brutal Tenderness, which is set for release on August 8. The album was produced by David Franklin, and mixed and mastered by Ariel Loh. The cover photo was by Charlie Watts. “boy” was performed by David Franklin Courtright on vocals and acoustic guitar.
We had a brief chat with David about the song and his fascinating travels, alter ego, and journeys. The premiere appears just beneath the interview.
Americana Highways: There’s a sense of serenity in the stripped-back arrangement of “boy.” What made you approach the track from this more minimalist production style?
David Franklin Courtright: I originally wrote “boy” on piano and it was sort of this teetering back and forth song that felt really sweet and real, but the sentiment of it is so soft and intimate I wanted to try it on classical guitar. I’ve never written a song quite like this, but it really approaches so much of what I love about a good song. It’s simple, its theme is succinct and also expansive, and when it’s over you want it again. As the album was developing and I was recording and adding layers to certain songs, I really wanted to make a point to leave breathing room throughout it. The album is also a poem after all—the tracklisting is a standalone poem. So I really wanted it to be a dynamic journey, and I love that “boy” sits right in the middle of album, first track on side B, and it really grounds the journey in this quiet intimacy that has been at the heart of my artistic ideals and objectives. I wanted the song about liking the boy to be as vulnerable and wobbly as possible. I want you to feel like the nervous boy who doesn’t know but just might take a chance.
AH: This record took shape over eight years and across three continents. How did time and place shape the evolution of these songs?
DFC: I think it makes the record feel very lived in. I kind of kept just whittling away at it, taking it with me, like in Italy where I shot the “feels” video, I brought one vocal mic, an interface, and my classical guitar. Tracking the vocals for “your kiss is something” in an old 1970s campervan with orange shag and yellow pleather trim down the driveway from my friend Riccardo’s place. Recording randomly very nice piano at the AirBnB I stayed at in Nantes. It was my companion and confidante, and it brought me solace to capture the spaces I was in and either emotionally (or literally as the birdsong from Thailand at the end of “feels”). I hope it can feel like a complete statement, and a journey you go on, rather than just a collection of perhaps related songs. I believe in the concept album, or at least the whole picture album. I’m happy a lot of people I admire are still doing that kind of thing.
AH: What was the significance of stepping away from your Suno Deko moniker and releasing this album under your full name? What felt different creatively once you made that decision?
DFC: I wanted deeper intimacy and connection with the listener, and I wanted to remove any barriers between who I am and what I am expressing. When I started Suno Deko in India in 2009, I needed that shield of a moniker to protect me from failure or rejection. It was a way of lowering the stakes if what I made was awful and no one liked it. I could cast the project aside and carry on being David. But the more vulnerable my songs got, and the more I’ve strived to make work of greater depth and intimacy, it began to feel like a needless and cumbersome barrier. I think there’s also a part to be said about using a language that isn’t in my personal lineage, even if I was living in the country at the time, that felt less and less authentic to me. I wanted to both be respectful that other culture and also step into a perhaps braver (and more terrifying) evolution in my musical work. I’m also a writer and a poet, so to have that continuity across all my mediums felt like a good idea too.
This song openly explores the fear of falling in love with someone, with the extra vulnerability that’s built into LGBTQ attractions. It’s gentle, confessional, and beautiful as David strums and sings lines like: “I’m too much in my head to know how to be in front of you, boy.”
Check out the music here: https://lnk.to/DFCboy