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Brandan Sweeney
Brandan Sweeney – Stranger Than You
(Karmasonic)
 That Brandan Sweeney’s album is richly impressive is saying one thing, but
to note that it was recorded in Sweeney’s bedroom is adding quite another
dimension! From Epiphones, Rickenbackers, Fenders and Guilds to Moogs,
Rolands and Rhodes, recorded whale calls and techno trash lids (not to
mention salt and pepper shakers and a kazoo!), Brandan combines a variety
of old and new audio systems to create lush soundscapes worthy of Pink
Floyd. Other apparent influences include Alice In Chains (especially in
the vocal department), Stone Temple Pilots (see “Swim”) and Sting (whose
“All This Time” is appropriated in “I Believe”) and a touch of ancestral
solo master Gary Neumann. However, despite knowing nods to other artists,
Sweeney is able to palate his musical command and knowledge (fostered as a
founding member of Notary Public and Karmasonic) and paint original hues
and washes of sound. From the tight choral harmonies of “Alcohol” and the
driving pulses of “Hang On” and the fleeting “Tyme” to the strummy “High
Noon” and “I Am Alive Again” and from the regimented beat of “Home” and
the technoed trance of “Who Took The Light” to the watery “Swim” and the
sleepy bed-bouncer “Dreamtime” (with its hopeful “You Are My Sunshine”
coda), Sweeney is also able to offer a variety of varieties in this
baker’s dozen of well-crafted and well-arranged songs.
- Matthew S. Robinson
© 1999 M. S. Robinson, ARR
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