Travels With Brindle basks in the glow of yearning on ‘Something’s Wrong’
The lo-fi indie-pop ukulele project from Chelsea Spear releases melancholic new single and video on Friday, October 7
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Travels With Brindle’s debut album ‘Notes From Undergrad’ set for 2023 release
September single ‘Linden Street’: Listen on Spotify // Watch on YouTube
Photo Credit: Susan Margot Ecker
CAMBRIDGE, MA [October 7, 2022] – Sometimes a song title gives the listener enough information on the surface to understand what an artist is trying to say, and where he, she, or they may be coming from. Other times, it’s a sort of Pandora's box to a larger scene, a portal into a deeper world of love and yearning, understanding and loss, not only setting a tone for the song and subject at hand, but also what may be to come as an album and all its themes and sentiments rush towards the surface. Both sides are in play with “Something’s Wrong,” the melancholic new single from Chelsea Spear’s indie-pop ukulele project, set for streaming release on Friday, October 7, with a doll-starring stop motion music video directed by Anissa of BlueFlower AG Studios arriving later that afternoon.
“I steal downstairs at night / When my roommates are asleep / I read his emails by the glow of the Coke machine,” Spear offers up as the opening lyrics to the retro-pop song, complete with cello by longtime collaborator Marshunda Smith, Spear trading call-and-response vocal harmonies with Trisha and Thara Iyer, and her own ukulele performance that gives a startling depth to the instrument.
With a vibe not unlike Stephin Merritt’s compositions as Magnetic Fields, “Something’s Wrong” is inspired by ‘80s-era college rock and jangle pop as well as off-brand ‘60s girl groups. Those first few lyrical lines also serve as the opening sentiments to Travels With Brindle’s forthcoming debut album, Notes From Undergrad, loosely inspired throughout by Elif Batuman's 2017 novel The Idiot, which takes place over the protagonist Selin's freshman year at Harvard University in Cambridge, not too far where Spear once cut her musical teeth as a busker. It’s an intertwining of worlds for Spear, something autobiographical, sometimes deeply influenced, that begin to shape the overarching storyline narrative of her debut LP, set for release in 2023.
But for now, we get Chapter 1. So to speak.
In addition to appearing on all major streaming platforms come October 7, the Bandcamp Friday release of “Something’s Wrong” arrives as an EP with a pair of b-sides: An original track titled “Rug Island” inspired by her nephew’s beloved children’s series Bluey, and a cover of R.E.M.’s forgotten ‘90s single “Bittersweet Me.” “Something’s Wrong” follows last month’s “Linden Street” and the summer’s “Ivan,” which alongside November’s holiday single “Rudolph’s Ranch,” begin to reveal the extended storyline of Notes From Undergrad. But every story must have a beginning, and here, the fifth song Spear wrote for the LP, this beginning brings us into her world. To borrow from the world of theater, this is where Travels With Brindle begins to expose what she’s searching for.
“‘Something's Wrong’ is a musical establishing shot that sets the tone for the album, the way an ‘I Want’ song sets up the rest of a musical,” Spear says. “You get a snapshot of who the narrator is and where she's at in her life… in this case, attending a school with high expectations and pining for someone she can't have. I hesitate to say it’s a retreat into my comfort zone, but girl-group pastiches have always been my sweet spot. I especially love the pulsing line in the bridge.”
In addition to the aforementioned college rock and jangle-pop influence – “Linden Street” arrived with a cover of “Erica’s Word” by Game Theory, Scott Miller’s experimental and hyperliterate ‘80s band that had a massive influence on Spear’s recent songwriting spree – the ‘50s-era girl group influence hangs over “Something’s Wrong” like a beautiful specter of magnetic harmony. Its 6/8 time signature is born from advice from a mentor as well as the impact a pair of Numero Group reissue compilations, Basement Beehive and Teen Expo, had on Spear early in the album’s drafting. Add in a challenge from online songwriting composition Song Fight!, and her LP’s opening number began to take shape.
“When I wrote this, I knew it was going to be the first song on the album, and I worked on it for about a month to get it right,” she adds. “The title came from Song Fight!, and the draft I entered there was too long and lyrically dense, and when I sent it to a few of my friends, everyone liked the line about the Coke machine. This was an indirect quote from The Idiot, so I bumped that to the first verse. After that, I edited out all the unnecessary words and focused on the melody.”
Where prior singles “Ivan” and “Linden Street” were opportunities for Spear to try new things – working with a new producer in Christian DeKnatel and leaning into a more collaborative, synth-driven sound – “Something’s Wrong” and its retro vibe connects Travels With Brindle to its past work, including 2018 Alex Lahey covers album I Love You Like A Cover and the following year’s debut EP Greetings From Rocky Point. But while its sound harkens back to yesterday and its themes are in line with Spear’s usual songwriting, the track pushes forward in setting up what’s to come.
Right now, on the surface, “Something’s Wrong.” But it’ll take the full Travels With Brindle album to understand just how and why. After all, this is merely an introduction, with the lights of a Coke machine illuminating messages that shape what’s to come.
Media Contact: Please direct all press inquiries to Travels With Brindle at travelswithbrindle@gmail.com or Michael Marotta at michael@publisist.co.
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‘Something’s Wrong’ production credits:
Chelsea Spear: Vocals, ukulele
Marshunda Smith: Cello
Trisha and Thara Iyer: Backup vocals
Mixed by Christian DeKnatel
Cello overdubs and mastering by Joel Edinberg
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Travels With Brindle short bio:
Chelsea Spear has been a music critic, a show promoter, a college radio host, and a video director… but all she really wanted to do was start a band. Not long after learning to play the ukulele, she formed the bedroom recording project Travels With Brindle. Her melodic original songs and wry, poignant lyrics have attracted a growing audience at open mics and busking pitches in the Greater Boston area. Spear is inspired by lo-fi songwriters and jangle pop acts of the 1980s and ‘90s, and her work has been compared to the Marine Girls, the Raincoats, Courtney Barnett, and Liz Phair. Currently Spear is recording her first full album of original songs, releasing well-received singles “Ivan” and “Linden Street” in 2022 with more on the way..
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Media praise for Travels With Brindle:
The music of Travels With Brindle can be heard on Banks Radio Australia, BumbleBee Radio, Enigma Magazine, Everything You Know Is Wrong (Salem State WMWM), If It’s Too Loud, Indie Radio YFM,Jersey Beat, Lonely Oak Radio, Mad Wasp Radio, Marc’s Alt Rock Playground (Mark Skin Radio), Original Music Showcase (Mark Skin Radio), Sunshine Music iRadio and other fine shows and stations.
“[Linden Street’ is] as glorious and refreshing as the first crisp, autumn morning… Spear’s brand of melancholy exposes a raw humanity in a poignant and brave manner… [it’s] the closest Spear has come to achieving perfection.” – Jersey Beat
“Power pop ukulele — you can't go wrong with this. This is great stuff!” — Marc Hurwitz, host of Marc’s Alt-Rock Playground on Mark Skin Radio
“Travels With Brindle is typically known as a busking project, but ‘Linden Street’ is more alt-pop based than anything you've heard on the streets. It's a fun song that helps cement Spear as an artist you're going to want to watch out for.” – If It’s Too Loud
“Once a busker on the streets of Boston, Chelsea Spear is now performing in venues, and she’s not afraid to get a little spooky.” – The Lynn Item
“The [‘I Want U’] video, directed by Vanessa Mark and shot in Central and Harvard squares, is inspired by Spear’s experiences busking – ‘You run into a lot of interesting people, folks who maybe need a therapist as well as people who are very enthusiastic about music,’ she says – and proves that things go more smoothly with a dinosaur by your side.” – Cambridge Day
“Chelsea Spear makes her ukulele rock throughout a collection of six poignant tracks.” – Jersey Beat
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Press Contact: michael@publisist.co or travelswithbrindle@gmail.com
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