Brayden Baird and the Once in a Lifetime Band – Lord, why do you do these things to me?
Brayden Baird stepped out from the engineering chair to launch his new acoustic punk, anti-folk album Lord, why do you do these things to me?. It positions itself from a perspective of irreverence and twisted honest tongue-in-cheekness with hand drums and acoustic guitar building up to play speedier in a punk rock / Violent Femmes-esque style. The themes build throughout the album and the angst is real.
In the title track the observations that life keeps hurling obstacles while you’re essentially dodging them on a treadmill: “one wrong move and the best man blew it, but that’s life anyway it seems.”
“Light in the tunnel” keeps up the sardonic yet honest observations: “walking to the train alone, hoping no one sees you crying through the face mask / once you’re moving’ you can’t quit.” “When will the sun rise again?” “when the best parts are over, we watch them again / don’t talk to me now, this is my favorite part / when the hero defeats all the beasts in his heart,” and a heavier muddier electric guitar joins in the whimsical layer here. And then the deep advice comes: “You just need to sit on a field on a blanket with friends.”
By the time it’s “Blue for the body” the punk energy is unrestrained as Brayden chronicles the rainbows of the colors of pills we take to manage through this life. And then “It kills me to see you sick,” the gloves are off and it’s uninhibited pain about watching someone in pain, and wishing someone else would die instead. On “I can’t bring my blue haired partner home for christmas,” underneath the surface absurdity, we get the sinking feeling of judgmentalism. The hand claps, the bass line and the percussion overall are fully charismatic, and the electric guitar riffs keep your head bopping. By the time we get to “When you were castrated,” it’s no holds barred: “I don’t want to be nice, I want to rip you apart.”
There’s a progression to the album as it draws you into the fray and it’s quite magnetic. It’s not a sorrowful Americana-country based affair, it’s all about purging and hammering catharsis, but, it’s equally authentic. It’s an important record. Brayden holds a vocal sweetness, an honesty underneath the anti-folk bravado. The percussion is a loping syncopation and the sonic blend works. Find the music here: https://linktr.ee/bboial
The album was produced by Brayden Baird, co-produced by Mark Balderston and Dan Rome engineered and mastered by Dan Rome; and mixed by Brayden and Dan. It was recorded at Future Fields Studios in Burlington, VT, mixed at The Fort in Essex, VT, and mastered at Big Lake Recording Company.
Musicians on the album are Brayden Baird on vocals and guitar; Klovis Gaynor on piano and Casiotone Synthesizer; Patrick Freeman on acoustic guitar and percussion; Nick Morelli on bass and vocals; Albin DeFreitas on electric guitar; Jenny Alice Watts on vocals; Kevin Bloom on baritone guitar and affection; Will Anderson on drums and percussion; Dan Rome on saxophone; Mark Balderston on vocals and clarinet; and Manriel Grant on vocals.