BRNDA’s latest album Total Pain explores the juxtaposition between pain and pleasure, between life’s debits and credits. The album features an evolved perspective from the band, one still delivering upbeat songs filtered through a humorous lens, but with the lens now frequently tinted by a somber perspective. On the evolution, the band notes “Looking ahead four years from Do You Like Salt? [BRNDA’s 2021 release], it does seem that there is more pain in the world, both ours and yours.” While lead single “Peach Pit” features BRNDA’s signature food references and life reflections delivered via tongue-in-cheek lyrics, a solemn tone surfaces on songs like “Cool Night” and “A Little Balloon”.
Musically, the album introduces more nuance to BRNDA’s art-punk sound. Tracks like “Books are Bad” include multiple percussion instruments, Leah Gage’s synth tracks, and group harmonies that enhance the music without overcomplication. Pleasant surprises appear in the form of flute solos from renowned flutist Mike Gillispie, including on the standout song “Everyone Chicago”. The bands’ signature sound of balancing noise and melody is on display in the nervous-energy of “Zebra” and the experimental funk-march that is “Gofor Gold”.
With Total Pain, BRNDA scrutinizes pleasure and begs the question: what does it mean without the pain?
“We didn’t need to call the album Total Pain. We could have called it something like More Songs about World Building and Food. But when we thought about the songs and listened to them all together one after the other, we couldn’t help but detect a little bit of sadness, especially compared to Do You Like Salt? Like that album, where not every song is food-explicit, not every song on Total Pain is pained, or about pain. But pain infuses the album.”
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