'Lone Hunter’ is BRANDY ZDAN'S first solo album. She has previously recorded with The Trishas, and also co-founded Twilight Hotel with Dave Quanbury, but this time she’s virtually on her own, and plays all instruments on half the songs on this six track mini-album. The musical style varies, between country and alt rock, but on the whole it is a waxing that anyone would immediately warm to.
Opening with the stripped back rock of ‘Mourning Dove’, on which Brandy sings and also supplies guitars and percussion. This is a great start: - “Lantern never lit, Persimmon never blooms/ We came this far without tearing it apart. We came this far without tearing it apart/ Mourning Dove Wakes me at the break of day, nest in my shoulder blade/ We came this far without tearing it apart. We came this far without tearing it apart.”
After this comes ‘O Where’, a country song which could not be more of a departure. Whilst on ‘Mourning Dove’ Brandy’s vocals were full on, here they show a fragility that suits the mood of the song perfectly: - “Where, where, where has my baby gone? He's gone far away/ But he will come, come, come back to me. In the summertime when all is green/ The road she will take you and sing you to sleep. She'll carry you far away from me.”
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For me, the best track on the album was the new wave style ‘Blood As The Ink’, upon which Brandy lays down some excellent guitar which reminded me in places of The Easybeats’ ‘Friday On My Mind’. The lyrics are relating to someone playing away from home: - “What makes you so scared? Not even a word not even a reply/ waited for days; I waited for weeks, white flowers in the crease/ Someone else, someone else. Someone else, someone else/ Blood as the ink, tear in the heart.”
I really liked this one. It's due to be released this September, and in addition to this Brandy is touring the UK and Ireland in October. On the strength of this, she will be well worth seeing.
Brandy Zdan online
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