Brannon – Heartbreak Is Misery
Brannon – Heartbreak Is Misery – Album Review
We might have a tale of two halves here…
For an album called Heartbreak Is Misery, it sure starts on an uplifting track called “We Are Powerful.” If you were expecting something that resembled the kind of “Misery” something like Soul Asylum produced back in the day, you’d be in for a surprise on Brannon’s first official Rock-inspired record. You likely remember the name from having appeared at these pages of ours many times over the years, we’ve featured Brannon’s music many times in all kinds of different forms as far back as 2017. A songwriter by trade, who really just enjoys the process of being involved in making music, his new record has longtime collaborator David Cagle on the mic, who gets things moving quickly with a stellar performance on the album’s very first song. That’s the thing about them hired guns y’all…they’d very rarely if ever let ya down…studio aces like Cagle have made a comfortable living out of being the heavy hitters called in to crack the bat in ways that others can’t, and he gives you a performance on “We Are Powerful” that reveals the strength in his skills & many of the reasons he’d be so sought out as a singer.
Brannon does have his thing…whether it’s been acoustic-based in the past, or in projects like Radio Fly or Random Parts, he’s very much the traditional type of songwriter and clearly knows what he likes. I listen to a song like “Hard Habit To Break” and definitely recognize the moves. While it’s not necessarily an unpredictable approach to music, it’s more than fair to say it’s a reliable one. With songs like “Hard Habit To Break,” Brannon positions his tunes to be picked up in a variety of ways from the radio waves to talent shows, other artists/bands doing covers…I mean…that’s really what the craft of songwriting is all about. “Hard Habit To Break” fluctuates between its Blues/Rock infusion, delivers on the hooks you’ll find, and keeps the momentum going strong as Heartbreak Is Misery begins through this metaphor-laden second song that examines the addictive nature of relationships. It’s not uncharted territory, and secretly I think that’s what I’m always hoping to find Brannon has ventured into, but yeah…it’s safe and reliable, tried, tested & true stuff that proves he’s been paying attention to what makes songs work out.
Finally! A little bit of misery, as we’ve been promised! “Without You I’d Die” is…hmmm…somewhere in between the realms of Bon Jovi and Van Halen circa the Sammy Hagar era, making the line “I’d give anything to go back in time” ring true on several levels. It’s always tougher than I’d think it would be to examine a Brannon record…the reality is, the dude makes sure the attention to detail is there and the results are technically flawless in pretty much every instance. Does that directly equate to songs that everyone will be sure to love? Honestly, I don’t really think that’s the correlation. I definitely think a lot of people will, there’s no doubt in my mind about that…but I suppose the risk that’s being taken is that it’s not so much The Road Less Traveled anymore so much as the road that many have driven on before, and that Brannon continually runs into space that has been previously occupied. I ain’t saying he doesn’t use that space in a much more effective way than his predecessors have – he arguably does, every single time…but it’s that familiarity of having been there before in his sound & style overall that threatens to push his music into the sea of sameness. I can’t fault the execution on a track like “Without You I’d Die” – it’s as spot-on as you could ever hope to find from the solos of the instrumentation to the microphone & the powerful notes that Cagle sings with…but there is still more work to be done if he’s looking to stand out as much as the effort that Brannon and David put into their music truly deserves.
“Bad Love” features R Reed, who we were first introduced to on a single called “I’m The Best” from one of Brannon’s other projects known as Radio Fly back around this time in January of last year. Even R Reed makes a Bon Jovi reference in this track, so you know I’m not alone in how I perceive Brannon’s vibe y’all. Anyhow. Like I said…the execution all-around is as professional as you’ll ever find if I’m being entirely honest with ya, and by that measure, every track Brannon’s written so far could verifiably be some kind of hit. Is there an audience for the kind of music he makes? Absolutely! There’s never been any doubt about that – he makes music made for the American mainstream, and proudly so. I can’t even conceive of a time where what I’ve heard from Brannon hasn’t been made for the masses to enjoy, and that’s no kind of slight, it simply is what it is. I don’t tend to get exposed to a whole lot of BIG ROCK in the independent realm, or anything with half the dough that’d be spent on the production of a record like this one usually…so in a way, it’s practically foreign to me and I’d be the first to admit that. Doesn’t make it a bad record whatsoever – you can always ‘hear’ the writing in an album made by a songwriter. Solid hybrid stuff though, complete with a set of highlight bars rapped by R Reed’s vocals for ya too…it’s a little bit Rock, a little bit Pop, a little bit Country, a little bit Hip-Hop…a collage of the things y’all love.
The warmth in the production of “All I See” feels sincere and sets the stage for the Rock-ballad of sorts. Solid drums, solid musicianship, solid vocals…and lyrically, there’s a decent balance between genuine observations & heartfelt musings versus words that fit the rhyme scheme. I still feel like Brannon’s got some work to do in being able to bridge that gap between saying what he really wants to say instead of searching for the word that fits phonetically…but I do think the design of the melody is effective and the hooks are sure to land safely in the court of public opinion. “All I See” might have a little less to it in terms of what’ll draw the people in or make it memorable in comparison to the first four tracks you’ll find on Heartbreak Is Misery, but it’s still got a sound that is built around what people tend to dig on. The more I came back to this song as I spun my way through this record over the past week or so, the more I seemed to grow an attachment to it. Lyrically, it’s not my favorite, but I do think the melody is strong and the hooks are perfectly executed…there are plenty of’em to listen to from the music to the microphone, from the lead to the backing harmonies…the main chorus melody is practically bulletproof.
Diving deeper into emotional terrain and further away from the shiny sounds of natural accessibility, “Off My Mind” is a bit more of departure from the rest of the set-list so far. You could feel the ground shifting a bit with the track before it, and here we are, arriving at the deep cut. “Off My Mind” examines the torturous aspect of going back & forth in your mind trying to figure out what could have been or should have been, and of course, anyone that’s ever been there in the trials and tribulations of love know that’s basically hell on earth. You just want that other person out of your thoughts, at the very least for a moment or two, in order to achieve some modicum of peace…but that is indeed “what heartbreak’s about.” We’re practically doomed to roam with the ghosts of those we’ve loved and lost along the way in our minds for the rest of time…and yep, I can certainly relate to the idea that it’d be nice to not always have to acknowledge they’re there, if only for a moment or two. That being said, there’s usually some kind of lesson for us to learn within that lingering spirit that haunts our souls, and perhaps only when we’ve really learned it, will they ever disappear once & for all. It’s just a theory, but I’m running with it. I tend to like songs like “Off My Mind” a bit more in the sense that it doesn’t feel so much like it’s another cut striving to be a hit so much as a song that Brannon sincerely wanted included. “Never Gone” would also be a different example of that in action too…you can hear the heaviness of the emotion from the get-go, which pretty much automatically disqualifies it from reaching the shiny sounds of Rock radio right off the bat. I’m not saying it’s impossible – it’s a still Brannon tune, and ultimately everything qualifies in one way or another – but it’s more unlikely given how much the people love their upbeat tunes by comparison. In any event, I personally dig the weight you feel in “Never Gone,” and I feel like the hooks of the chorus are probably some of my favorites to be found on this whole record. Credit where credit is due, the writing of Brannon is quality, and the way Cagle sings his words hits the intended mark bang-on…we end up feeling the bittersweet sting of the melody more-so in this tune than in most, and I’m always in for an experience like that. “Never Gone” feels that much more real.
Title-track time! “Heartbreak Is Misery” is…accurate? I kind of have a love/hate relationship with the songs that end up being the title-tracks…or at least, that’s what my record would reveal if you looked into the reviews on these pages of ours. I tend to feel like the moment escapes most folks…like you can feel how important it is, how central it is to the overall idea, and then usually, it somehow falls flat and gets crushed under the weight of expectations…but not this time. Quite honestly, I think Brannon got the very best out of this particular track…and in the first eight tracks of the fourteen total, I’d definitely point to the title-tune as being the ultimate single. Like I was tellin’ ya earlier…you’ll rarely if ever find a track written by this guy that wouldn’t somehow qualify as a single of some sort, but “Heartbreak Is Misery” feels decisively like it deserves the crown in that regard. I’m into this one myself…I think he’s got a song that’s inarguably catchy, still very Brannon, and a stellar representation of what he’s capable of. Are those handclaps? And I STILL like this song a lot? Well now…dear readers, dear friends…THAT is overcoming the odds if I’ve ever heard it. “Heartbreak Is Misery” is a really well-written track when it comes right down to it…a song that’s open & honest & raw & vulnerable…and yet addictively catchy too. I appreciate the realistic perspective on the push/pull of relationships and how “Heartbreak Is Misery” shows how tough the struggle can be, the turmoil it takes on the soul, and how desire triumphs over despair…we can hate a whole lot of things about love, but songs like this remind us we keep pursuing it.
ROBUST definition to the sound of “Lie To Me” – another track I felt like worked out pretty strongly for this record…at least to a degree. I’d probably tell ya that the main hooks of “Lie To Me” exist firmly within the verses much more than they do in the pre-chorus or chorus of this tune…but I don’t think the folks tuning-in to Brannon’s tunes would be disappointed by any part of this track overall. I dig the fact that, even though he’s a songwriter and that’s always remained his priority, there are instrumental solos all throughout this record that prove he’s got real respect for all facets of a tune. Great riffs in “Lie To Me” and an energy that’s wildly untamed…all-in-all, I could see this track being one of the cuts that could potentially reach further than many of the rest and branching out Brannon’s audience a bit further. I mean, to be truthful, for “the first ever fully produced Rock album from Brannon,” “Lie To Me” is arguably the track that leans on that genre, style, and sound the most in the entire set-list. That all depends on what your personal definition & perspective of Rock is of course, but for me, it usually implies a heaviness to it…up til this point of the record, Brannon hasn’t exactly gone Pop but it’s still been on the lighter side of Rock, or at least some kind of hybrid. “Lie To Me” is the kind of cut that throws down the gauntlet and makes sure its presence is felt…there’s no mistaking this track for anything BUT Rock, you feel me? “Lie To Me” cranks up the volume to match the album’s description.
“You Should Know Me Better” is the track that lives up to the album’s title – see the difference? There are moments on a record that you can often point to that show where things really spark to life, and this record’s title-track deserves a ton of credit for being the pivot-point that shifts this album into a whole other gear. “Heartbreak Is Misery” is a stellar & single-worthy tune…”Lie To Me” is the record’s most enormous Rock song…and to make it three significant highlights in a row, “You Should Know Me Better” is quite likely the best cut of the entire album. The least I’ll accept is that it contains the album’s most memorable hook and one of the best performances I’ve heard from David Cagle to-date…but in my personal opinion, they’ve taken those strengths and expanded them into the album’s most ultimate offering. I mean…this is powerful stuff y’all…and there’s simply no other way to look at it or listen to it – you’ll have the titular hooks of “You Should Know Me Better” clinging to your heart & mind for years to follow after having a listen to it – to me, this is the very definition of what memorable music is all about. The more I cruised through this lineup of songs, the more I felt like I became convinced that this was the real gem of Heartbreak Is Misery. The verses are strong, no doubt about that – but we’re talking about a chorus that is straight magic & a song that becomes a remarkable gem as a result of the way that Cagle sings it. When we talk about taking things to the next level, the shift from verse to chorus is what we really mean…that’s the way to take a good song and make it great…truly, I’m practically speechless. I’ve got nothing but love for how exceptional the main hooks of this song have come out – this is captivating.
Did he…no…he didn’t…he wouldn’t…he SHOULDN’T have…did Brannon really just horn in on territory specifically reserved and owned by David Bowie, calling this next track “Life On Mars,” and it’s NOT a cover of one of the world’s most beloved songs? I’ll put it to ya this way – it’s a quality tune, and the guest appearance from Erika Schiff is entirely noteworthy for her excellent performance – but every single set of eyes that ever lays upon the title of this tune is going to ASSUME that it’s the David Bowie song…and I’m not so sure everyone will easily adjust in finding out that it’s not, despite how good this track truly is. I’ll fully admit to falling victim to that myself…you get that instant high of “RIGHT ON, Brannon’s about to cover one of the most kickass Bowie tracks ever,” followed by “DAMMIT IT’S NOT,” and then you have to recover, come to your senses, and somehow find your way back to enjoying one of the album’s undeniably better tracks. Who says a title doesn’t count for what we experience? Our eyes serve our ears with expectations…and that can be a deadly downfall for a really good song sometimes. A fate that I certainly wouldn’t want to befall this particular track, because Schiff and Cagle sound truly extraordinary together, it has been nothing short of awesome to hear the material in the second half of this record surge with the strengths that it has tapped into. So I suppose what I’m saying is…calm yourself down…read these words I’ve written, reset your expectations, and understand this IS a different tune than what you just thought that it might be for a hot minute there…it’s not a Bowie album, it’s a Brannon record…and while I genuinely think he should have chosen a different title, I can’t deny the fact that just about everyone out there will at least be curious enough to click it, if only to see if it IS a cover. Brannon & Co. should be extremely proud of the fact that, even with having to battle the lofty hopes and expectations folks may have based on the title, they’ve got a song strong enough to win everyone over.
It’s been a hot-streak of remarkable songwriting without a doubt. Do I expect it’s gonna continue with a song called “Goin’ For Mine?” No, but of course not. I’ve never been a huge fan of songs crafted around a buzz word or a catch phrase, and to me, that’s kind of what “Goin’ For Mine” seems to be. I’m not saying that IS the case definitively…maybe it’s a phrase that Brannon naturally throws around in his everyday conversations and if that’s what it’s like to talk to the guy, then I’ve got nothing but apologies for my assumptions. If it’s not, then yeah…adding it in here as the central theme, hook, and title is another example of being able to hear the writing, like I was mentioning before earlier in this review. The question becomes…is there redemption beyond that? I mean…it somewhat depends on who ya are and what you like to listen to in the music you choose – I have no doubt whatsoever that the masses will be more than pleased with the results on this cut – how could they not be? The accessibility is certainly there…you get all-star caliber performances out of the featured guests Bobby John and R Reed…the hooks are sharp, the sound is beefy…and if you haven’t heard a million & a half songs like I have in this lifetime, chances are, you’re a lot less critical and you’ll turn this up loud and proud like you should be. I honestly LOVE the fact that Brannon relentlessly puts me in the position of having to admit that these tracks are technically & entirely flawless, which essentially forces me to reveal my own weaknesses and personal biases, despite doing my damn level best to remain as objective as possible. Whenever I get to this point, I have to recoil back to the ‘we all like what we like & love what we love’ comments – which is true – but it’s also an admission that, there’s nothing to complain about here, it’s just a matter or what hits the mark with your own personal taste. I’ll say this…it’s probably a combination of the fact that the guests on this cut did such an outstanding job with the material, the roll the second half of this album has been on has been supreme, and the non-stop attention to detail & quality that has “Goin’ For Mine” come out as one of the tracks that surprised me the most; I liked this a lot more than I thought I would.
“When The Heartache Is Over” works well enough…I could see this being a single, even if it’s not my favorite of the bunch & seems to somewhat tread on terrain on a trail that Brannon has already blazed. Dude likes his big Pop/Rock tunes, what else can be said? Cagle executes as perfectly as you could ever hope a singer would within that realm…a track like “When The Heartache Is Over” is what you’d call right in the wheelhouse of these two, know what I mean? Like I’ve been tellin’ ya…it’s pretty hard to complain about flawless execution…and you’ve already heard what I have to say on that. So I might not exactly be adding anything significantly new in addressing this particular song, but I’d have to point out they started it. It was a solid run…they had tracks eight to twelve not only perfected and exceeding all expectations, but that was engaging material throughout the latter half of a record, where you usually end up finding way less momentum on anyone else’s album. They came, they surged, they conquered, and now with “When The Heartache Is Over” they went back to what they know works. As much as I’d love to think they need my confirmation on that, they don’t – they know how I feel about it, they know how you feel about it, and it’s music that they like to make themselves…that’s pretty much case closed.
If I’m not mistaken, they’ve reworked “On My Way” from what it sounded like on its original release back in the spring of 2020. Still a decent tune, and perhaps even a better version now with more time and experience with it under their belt. As to what on earth lead them to be like, yo, we’ve only got thirteen tracks on this record and we should bring back on older one to make sure we’ve got fourteen when there’s only about five perfect records that have ever had more than twelve tunes on’em…I do not know. But it’s a welcome track…for those that haven’t heard it yet, this makes for a noticeable conclusion that feels like the record is finished after it’s done, which is ultimately the kind of ending you want to create for an album if you can. Yeah…I mean…my ears tell me that this is an updated version of the song…I’d have to check the archives to be sure, but this sounds more polished than I remember it, maybe a bit more low-key in its energy and presenting a professional level of controlled emotions…but the writing holds up and I can’t say I blame’em for bringing it back even if the tie-in to this particular record seems to escape me. Maybe the song hasn’t changed at all – maybe only I have! Ahhh the mysteries of life I tell ya, the twists and turns just never stop coming. Brannon’s a good dude with good intentions, making good music with good people…at the end of the day, that’s always worth supporting.
Heartbreak Is Misery officially arrives online this February 3rd – until then, make sure to find out more about Brannon by visiting the main website at: https://hiprockrecords.com
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