Canadian country guitar goddess Brandy Zdan’s latest album Falcon is out today—a smokey, fuzzy, and scintillatingly moody meditation on self-preservation, solitude, motherhood, and learning to master the ebb and flow of one’s own life.
You can hear the knowing, soul-tinged nip and purr of Jenny Lewis in the ebullient threads of Brandy’s voice Falcon, as well as unapologetic nods to Dinosuar Jr. in the pedal effects and riffs of the road burn flame-out of “Dying Inside;” the quiet earthquake of Cat Power’s emotive revolutions in the surging uplift of “The Worst Thing;” and a hint of the cool, collected calm ignited by a hot, ’80s flashpoint characteristic of War on Drugs can be felt throughout the toe-tapping clip of “Can You Be Alone.”
Comparisons are good and all, but Falcon is truly Brandy’s show and showcases her easy-gliding, heavy-lidded, soul-country singing style, presiding over an understated wealth of rich and sanguine guitar chords that are the envy of any garage band in North America. Falcon was written partially on the road prior to the pandemic and produced and engineered at home in Brandy’s laundry room, but you could swear it could have fluttered out of the channels of the mixing board at Third Man in Nashville.
Still need to know more? Well, you’re in luck! Brandy has graciously provided a track-by-track breakdown of her latest album for your informational vindication. You can check out her words of wisdom and albums insights below:
Buy Brandy Zdan’s Falcon here.
DYING INSIDE
This was one of the first songs written for the record. It’s a song about being at the end of one’s rope. The “something’s gotta give” feeling. This is in reference to touring and being on the road and no longer being in love with it. It was a good, solid decade without many breaks.
This was the beginning of the writing vibe for the record. Layered guitar tracks creating a blanket of sound and sonic landscape.
THE WORST THING
Who needs a fist-in-the-air, riff-rock song about miscarriage and abortion? Every woman does. “The Worst Thing” is simply a song about having to remain silent about the tragic events that can happen to women’s bodies.
Imagine me tracking the loud, fuzz guitar riffs through a dual showman head and 2×12 cab in a room next to where my babe was sleeping. She slept through every note.
FALCON’S WING
My personal account of a pregnancy loss that came to me in one sitting while on the road weeks after it occurred.
I AM WILD
Realizing you are a wild being is truly a gift. It’s as if mother nature is swallowing you whole as you grow a baby inside and go through that cycle in its entirety. She is the one true ruler.
We are on her timeline.
This is a real wild, big, open production that we let go where it wanted to.
PROTECTOR
A light-hearted production nod to the great JJ Cale. This was the last to get tracked. A last-minute tune addition, if you will. This is my plead to call off the protector side of myself so I could really get down to it and deal with some grief and pain.
EVERYONE WANTS
An account of the events of everyone looking over their shoulder at what everyone else has instead of practicing gratitude or focusing on their own path. We are all guilty of it.
Calling it out is the first step to changing those habits. Maybe I needed to do so?
CANCELEER
Canceleer: the turn of a hawk in flight made before seizing the prey.
I am the hawk.
CAN YOU BE ALONE
Written WELL before the pandemic. Solitude has always fascinated me. It’s one of my favorite things. I love to be alone and don’t really understand people who don’t. This was my way of working that out a bit.
This song includes my favorite guitar part of the album. The GUITAR-HARMONY solo!
I worked on that one for a long while before I got it right.
MAMA
When becoming a mother, you ultimately process how you were mothered. This was an important step in acceptance and the healing my mother story.
Unsure of when I would track this. There was a night I felt the urge, but I didn’t have a second mic stand in my small home recording studio. I taped a mic to my desk, and you can hear all the string noise and the delightful humanity of the acoustic guitar.
Photos by Alysse Gafkjen.
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