Nostalgic, retrospective escapism and harmoniously breezy pop allure combine on “Brad’s Cabana,” a delight of a track from Jean Noir. The project comes via Jonny Black, formerly of punk bands Them Terribles and Dead Country, and now succeeding with a dynamic sound that draws from a variety of realms — ambient textures, throwback pop shimmering, and hazy Americana.
“There’s nothing left of Brad’s Cabana, the sun has set on Brad’s Cabana,” the opening vocals let out amidst trickling guitar tones, the titular place described by the artist as “both place and metaphor.” He continues: “Growing up in Southern California, Brad’s was an old haunt. A way station where youth was always abandoned, and sometimes wasted. You were too young when you entered and had aged out by the time you left.”
The retrospective qualities, and framing of Brad’s Cabana as a place for comforting escapes from the daily bustle, continue as the instrumentation flourishes and enters a glimmering, island-set array of keys/synths. “Long days working off the night shift / Slow fade, trust the psilocybin,” the vocals meet the lushly absorbing descriptors, furthered by lovely vocal harmonies and a baroque arrangement, paying homage to The Beach Boys.
The production also stirs in its subtly effective ambient pads, drawn aptly from an Amtrak horn. Per the artist: “The ambient pads are built from iPhone recordings of the Amtrak horn as it passed through – a sound to mark your arrival, or departure, or maybe both. The thing about Brad’s Cabana is everyone has their version of it. Yours just had a different name… and probably wasn’t a cabana.”
—
This and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
