[This review was originally published in Badaboom Gramaphone #3 and appears here with permission.]
Boston and Brooklyn’s Bright broke a barrier between the inaccessibility of drawn-out krautrock improvs and the rigidity of pop songwriting, coloring in small points on the musical spectrum — sticking on one chord, or chord-progression — but completely coloring it, exploring nuances of melody and sound with a subtlety lost on bands who see repetition as a chance for individual grandstanding or overbearing boredom. Mark Dwinell (guitar and vocals), and Joe LaBrecque (drums, formerly of the punkier Sons of John Glenn) began recording at home in 1993, often playing until the tape ran out. Dwinell would then cull out songs by overdubbing extra guitar parts and singing. Their Bright cassette (limited to 100 copies) offers pop music opened up into freeform — melody rides between underindulgent jams and tempered backbeats — with most songs ending before the three-minute mark. “Tonal” it starts out in the midst of a furious workout then breaks unexpectedly into a simple melody with loopy keyboard and multitracked vocal mumblings.
The Bright CD (totally different from the cassette of the same name) adds Jay Dubois (bass) and Paul LaBrecque (guitar, bugle and drums). The signature sound is still there — chugging beat, repeating measures — but the studio and additional members allow for expansion. Space flows nicely between the instruments, and the claustrophobia of overdubbing is not a worry. “The Res,” “All the Wheels Go” and the high-energy “Point” are the tightest songs the band has done, while “Switch” allows them to emphasize their larger sound by playing as quietly as they please. The original pressing comes with a fold-out poster of a colorful geographical map.
The Albatross Guest House, named after Dubois’ century-old, Roman-Catholic-family-sized house in Lowell where they did most of their recording, remasters most of the tracks from the Bright cassette, along with new home recordings. Dwinell and LaBrecque are back as a twosome here, and the comfort of home recording in their original manner is apparent on the new tracks. “On Life After Death” and “Last Great Patron” display how they straddle the chaotic with their captured-at-the-moment playing style yet never lose a semblance of structure. “Forever More or Less” shows what miracles can be performed with one chord, if chosen right.