BRIGHTON : One Church

Thursday 17th September, 2015

8:00pm

Event information

Perfect Abandon is Tom Brosseau’s new album. John Parish (PJ Harvey, Sparklehorse, Peggy Sue) produced Perfect Abandon in Bristol, England. Ali Chant recorded Tom and the band - David Butler 2-piece drum kit, Joe Carvell double bass and Ben Reynolds Stratocaster guitar – on a wooden theater stage, using only a single mic.

Tom Brosseau, North Dakota-born, LA-based songwriter and singer, learned acoustic guitar from his grandmother. He has toured Japan, Canada, Portugal, Iceland, Australia; performed in bars, backyards, grand halls, subways, theaters, old folks homes; exchanged songs and poetry with many talented folks, including Susan Orlean, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Patrick Marber, and the late Sam Hinton.

Since 2010, Brosseau has performed with Becky Stark and John C. Reilly in John Reilly & Friends, summoning the close harmonies and soul of earlier American music.

Tom Brosseau on his background and the recording of a Perfect Abandon:

"I grew up with music in the church, in the school, music at home. I learned a lot of hymnal and folk songs, both traditional and contemporary, and since I was influenced by what my grandparents listened to, in a sense I studied the singers and songwriters of the great American songbook.

"I have always liked the live sound. There's an unbound energy present, and when recording in this mode there's a feeling it is all happening without a net. In that sense, the clouds of staleness that can sometimes accumulate in the studio never take shape in the live setting, never congregate, and so never shade, never stifle. Instead, the atmosphere is...exciting.

The end product, for better or worse, would truly to be its own thing. There'd be no overdubbing, no raising or lowering the levels of any one instrument. So, the album you now hear is simply the choosing of which take of which songs."

4 (of 5) stars: Financial Times, Perfect Abandon

"North Dakota troubadour brings stark, trembling beauty to folky acoustic pop. The world is better for it." MOJO Magazine - Danny Eccleston

“No artist possesses the same peculiar qualities as Brosseau.... The power of his performing persona is so strong that he can pervade the whole room with his subjective existence, making time-warped acolytes out of his audience.” – BBC