John Brodeur + Bird Streets
Bird Streets brainchild John Brodeur has been a solo artist at the crowded power-pop table for years. Despite delivering some solid efforts in “Get Through” in 2009, and the follow-up, “Little Hopes” in 2013, full-blown, stand-alone success has been an elusive main course for the multi-talented New York-based singer/songwriter.
Time has its way of chipping away at one’s artistic soul, however, and by 2014, the table scraps he’d survived and depended on for his musical sustenance simply weren’t enough. Brodeur’s inner self needed to be fed.
“I kind of hit a wall after my last solo album,” Brodeur said in an interview. “There was no promotion behind it, and it didn’t make much of a dent. Things weren’t growing. Then a few setbacks forced me to cancel a bunch of tour dates, and it felt like the universe was trying to tell me something. It felt like a good time to take a step back and reassess how I wanted to present myself. While I’m decent at the indie-troubadour thing, I’d gotten tired of the trappings that go with the term “singer/songwriter.” So Bird Streets is the sound of me pressing the proverbial reset button. It feels more natural to work under a band name with this kind of music. Plus it looks cool on a T-shirt.”
For his next project, Brodeur aimed high and enlisted the services of Jason Falkner (Beck, Air, Paul McCartney, Jellyfish, etc.) as co-writer, co-player and producer for Bird Streets, and also brought in sonic canvas strokes from guest musicians such as Luther Russell (Those Pretty Wrongs) and Miranda Lee Richards. The resultant self-titled debut album released Aug. 10 features some of Brodeur’s finest work to date. Whether or not it’s his ticket to the big table has yet to be determined, but the process has reshaped Brodeur and provided a readily apparent spring in his step.
(Text via ListenIowa)