Interview with Old Sea Brigade
We had the pleasure of interviewing Old Sea Brigade over Zoom video!\xa0
Life happens between all of the changes around us. We adapt to the ebbs and flows in our environment and ultimately grow in the middle of major milestones.\xa0
Old Sea Brigade documents the space between those changes in his songs. Atlanta-born and Nashville-based singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Cramer captures anxiety, nostalgia, confusion, love, loss, and, ultimately, hope in tender true-life snapshots colored by folk eloquence, Americana bliss, rock energy, and country heart.\xa0
He welcomes everyone to flip through those snapshots on his 2021 second full-length offering, Motivational Speaking [Nettwerk]
Like any timeless scrapbook, the album evolved as a living and breathing entity over the course of the past two years. Before that, Ben initially debuted Old Sea Brigade in 2015 with his self-titled independent debut EP. It yielded \u201cLove Brought Weight,\u201d which gathered over 41 million Spotify streams and counting. After the Cover My Own EP and Songs for the Holidays EP, he unveiled his 2019 full-length debut, Ode To A Friend. He garnered praise from Boston Globe, UPROXX, Glide, and No Depression and hit the road with Julian Baker, Joseph, Lewis Watson, and Luke Sital-Singh. He developed undeniable chemistry with Luke that carried over to the studio as they teamed up on the collaborative All the Ways You Sing in the Dark EP. With both musicians off the road due to the Global Pandemic, they chose to unveil the project in 2020, and it generated nearly 3 million streams in the span of a few months. In addition to acclaim from American Songwriter, Atwood Magazine claimed, \u201cOld Sea Brigade and Luke Sital-Singh have struck gold on their soulfully soothing new EP.\u201d
Simultaneously, Ben had been working diligently on Motivational Speaking with his longtime production partner Owen Lewis [Banners, Maddie Medley] as well as various collaborators such as bassist Eli Beaird [James Bay, Shawn Mendes], drummers Will Sayles [Norah Jones, Drew Holcomb] and Julian Dorio [Eagles of Death Metal, The Whigs], guitarist Kris Donegan [Third Eye Blind, Kelsea Ballerini] and Glenn Duncan [Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, Mark Knopfler] on dobro, banjo, and bouzouki.\xa0
As the world shutdown, Ben took advantage of the downtime to perfect these twelve tracks.
He initially teased the album earlier this year with \u201cCaroline,\u201d where delicate strumming and strings conjure a gorgeous daydream. He\u2019ll kick off 2021 with the single \u201cDay By Day.\u201d A kinetically steady beat from Julian Dorio [Eagles of Death Metal, The Whigs] courses underneath a nimble riff as his full-bodied delivery gallops towards a floating hook, \u201cI think of you growing old and it breaks my heart.\u201d
Conceived as his first composition during the COVID-19 quarantine, \u201cAmerican Impressions\u201d conjures up a \u201cfantasy of living the \u2018California Dream\u2019 with someone\u201d over sunny acoustic strumming and ethereal overtones. Co-written with Sital-Sing over ZOOM, \u201cMirror Moon\u201d offsets lush electric guitar with a chantable refrain.
Lyrically, it\u2019s a reminder to myself, \u2018Don\u2019t get too comfortable\u2019. On the record, I speak on building roots. Some of these roots are tied to relationships, some are tied to places you live. \u2018Mirror Moon\u2019 explores building roots and the effect change has on them. Metaphorically speaking, you look at the moon and expect it to be there. It\u2019s the same as when you\u2019re in a relationship and have people you can count on. What happens when that splits in two?\u201d
Strains of mellotron swell through \u201cSalt,\u201d which maintains the distinction of being \u201cthe first Old Sea Brigade song to feature banjo.\u201d Meanwhile, \u201cHow It Works\u201d relays the story of a snarky industry encounter with a gleeful grin.
In the end, Motivational Speaking collates the kind of memories and feelings we all could use a little more of right now.
We want to hear from you! Please email\xa0Tera@BringinitBackwards.com.
www.BringinitBackwards.com
#podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #OldSeaBrigade #zoom #aspn #americansongwriter #americansongwriterpodcastnetwork
Listen & Subscribe\xa0to BiB
Follow our podcast on\xa0Instagram\xa0and\xa0Twitter!\xa0
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bringin-it-backwards--4972373/support.