We’ve long followed the work of Nashville-based songwriter Philippe Bronchtein. From his days recording as Hip Hatchet, Bronchtein has crafted folk songs in the classic sense. What we previously described (for EP Oregon Air) as “following a long line of artists who have considered what is, what was, and what might’ve been,” with songs road-worn and weary, possessing the kind of melancholic wisdom earned only the hardest way.
After time spent playing pedal steel and organ for Americana duo The War & Treaty, Bronchtein stepped away in 2019 to focus on his own work. The pandemic hit soon after, and in the absence of touring he got to work on new material in his home studio that will form a new record, to be released in the coming months.
For now, we have new single ‘Middle of the Road’ to suggest the direction of the forthcoming album. Written in collaboration with Caitlin Canty, the song was performed in Nashville by a full band including Cy Winstanley, Sam Howard, Nate Barnes, and Rachel Baiman, with engineering form Sean Sullivan and mixing by Tyler Fortier. The result is as full-bodied as the line-up suggests, a rich and decidedly anthemic song anchored by Bronchtein’s distinctively evocative delivery. A track which finds a steady confidence as it develops, assured in its own pace and frame of mind.
Between two lines In the middle of the road
Can’t pass me by In the middle of the road
Gonna take my time In the middle of the roadRock in my tire keeping time
Strobing light between the pines
My heartbeat finds the rhythmAll my friends are taking sides
Picking fights drawing lines
I ain’t going with them