You may know Bryce Kepner as the man behind DIY-label-cum-tape-duplication-service Black Tube Socks. But Kepner, based in Mesa Arizona, is also an artist in his own right. He recently released an album, Transitions, the culmination of several years of writing, recording and personal growth.
Opener ‘Gave it All Away’ sets the scene for the album, slow and smoky dream pop that teams intimate guitar with Kepner’s earnest vocals. “I have it all away,” he sings, “I traded all of my pain, I have it all away for you.” The song has a midnight candlelit confessional vibe that plunges the listener into Kepner’s world and immediately bares the emotional bedrock that supports the record.
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That said, some of the songs flow with a honeyed ease of a smash hit pop song. ‘I Gotta Go (Right Now)’ is a good example, stripped back to a near hush but still undualting with a beguiling rhythm. See also ‘The Hurt’, which sounds like a sleeper radio hit, peppy drum machine anchoring Kepner’s expressive vocal work. This proves to be a characteristic of the music of Bryce Kepner, drawing on a variety of styles genres and levels of accessibility to produce something that feels unique.
‘I’ll Just Wait’ unfurls in a rich serpentine sway, while ‘Sky Dreams’ dawns slowly from winding atmospherics and subtle sleigh bells, eventually blooming into a confident-sounding guitar pop song (think The Dirty Projectors without the pretentious flourishes). Finale ‘Chances’ has the melancholy composure of a Justin Vernon song, the way Kepner’s vocals spring from the minimal instrumentation, primarily an hypnotically repetitive guitar line. It’s the perfect end to an album that sounds as confident as it does dreamy, as stylishly minimal as it is rich with feeling.
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Transitions is it now and you can get it on CD, cassette or digitally from the Bryce Kepner Bandcamp page.