Good songcraft takes years to develop, not months, and this can be a very hard fact for some indie players to face. There’s a lot of work that goes into cultivating something special for your audience, and if there’s anyone who knows what I’m talking about, it’s a pop singer like Brooke Josephson. Josephson’s sound has been getting progressively tighter through the past few years, culminating with her most recent release in a new single and music video titled “Rainbow,” and despite its somewhat streamlined construction, this is a track that breaks out of the mainstream shell its contemporaries live in.
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There’s a hint of desperation pushing the percussive undertow in this piece forward, but it’s met with such sterling confidence in our singer’s voice that the ensuing contrast becomes a focal point of the song. The narrative in “Rainbow” is created not just out of lyrics, but out of the way this crooner is lashing us with them (in the most melodic fashion she can, mind you). Thoughtful might be too big an understatement – this is Brooke Josephson reconnecting with the audience free of any pressures normally associated with the pop game in 2021.
The harmonies in this single have such a strong influence over how we break down the lyrics that there’s no overvaluing the weight of their emotional contribution to the track. The rhythm of the instrumentation – from the drums to the guitars, keys, bass, and right on back to the vocals – is shaped mostly by Josephson’s lyrical execution than it is the pulse of the percussion alone. Simply put, there’s really no one element in this song given a singular task; every instrument lends something to the others beside it, making even the more indulgent moments in this mix sound efficient and well-organized. I would undeniably be interested in hearing a live version of “Rainbow” just to see if this singer could deliver it as crisply in person as she does from inside of a recording studio, but whether it took a couple of adjustments to make it tangible to listeners or not, I think it would be something Josephson’s hardcore fans wouldn’t soon forget.
Brooke Josephson “Rainbow” (Official Music Video)
Brooke Josephson – Rainbow (Official Music Video) Subscribe for the latest news from Brooke Josephson:www.brookejosephson.comListen to RAINBOW here:www.brook…
This singer/songwriter has evolved a lot in the past eight years that have gone by since the release of Live and Let Live, and “Rainbow” summarizes the growth she’s experienced as a songwriter rather flawlessly. There’s still some room for her to expand on some of the themes she’s toying with in this single, but overall I think she’s one of the more complete packages in independent pop music out of the west right now. “Rainbow” lets Brooke Josephson acknowledge her influences while still blazing a trail that is very much hers and hers alone. By relying on her organic talents alone, she makes a vivid distinction between her sound and that of the synthetics-dependent artists emerging out of the woodwork this summer and looking to appeal to much of the same audience she’s easily winning over now.
Clay Burton