Vocalist Brielle Brown Shines Via New EP

There’s something really special about the modern singer/songwriter movement in the United States, and if you haven’t already been listening to it in the past year, 2021 is the time to start paying some serious attention to its leaders. At the forefront of the rookies making their big debut this coming summer is none other than Brielle Brown, an east coaster looking to put up a commanding melodic presentation via her first EP The Well in an era that has been dominated by California and Washington-based players. She doesn’t sound intimidated by competition here at all; honestly, The Well is probably the most mature record of its kind to hit my desk in a long time. 

INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/briellebrown/?hl=en

First of all, we have to talk about the confidence this young woman has when she’s in the studio, given that it essentially bleeds into songs like “She’s Come to Sing” and “Skylark’s Tune” rather effortlessly. There’s so much swagger to her delivery in these two tracks that much of her emotional standpoint translates as one of retrospection, as though she’s wisely recalling something that can be applied to the state of affairs she’s being faced with today. It feels both metaphorical and literal, which isn’t something I’m able to say about most of the pop recordings I hear. 

The vocal here is heavenly from beginning to end, but I think Brown sounds the most comfortable with the microphone in “Let the Water” and “This Time Around,” both of which I believe would make for solid singles. When her voice is made to straddle a rhythm section, regardless of what that section consists of, she adheres her lyrics to the body of the instrumental harmony like she’s putting the icing on a cake. It’s so easy for her, or at the very least, she sure makes it seem like it is. 

DOWNLOAD LINK: https://ffm.to/thewellep

There’s a great progression you’ll find as you listen to this EP from “Concrete Stars” through to “This Time Around” that stops just shy of feeling cinematic, which is a good thing in my book for a couple of reasons. Chiefly, there’s no campiness to the statements Brown makes with her words here – she communicates feelings of maternity, kinship with the earth, and the unending ties that bind the two together so remarkably well that she sounds like she was born to make this record. She’s in the right line of work, and I think you’re going to agree. 

If this is just the beginning of what Brielle Brown’s career is going to look and sound like in the years to come, I don’t believe this is going to mark the last occasion on which she has the attention of indie media outlets around the globe. The Well is sophisticated and yet simple, heartfelt and scathing when it needs to be, and I know it might sound like a bold remark to make, but I personally do not see any legit music aficionados listening to its tracklist and stepping away somehow unaffected by what they’ve just heard. 

Videos courtesy Gabriela Sibilska. Photography courtesy Maria Wurtz.

Mindy McCall