Peter Broderick has an enlightened attitude to the thorny legal and ethical questions surrounding the issue of music.
He recognises that up/downloading is here to stay and, instead of fighting this trend, sets out to use the net to give listeners a more complete and personalised experience.
To enhance what would otherwise be an anonymous file transfer, he has set up an album website which, to make it easy to remember, is also the its title. Here he has posted free MP3 links to each of the ten songs together with what he describes as "liner notes that are alive".
He explains that "http://www.itstartshear.com was designed simply to be a place where all listeners, no matter what format they obtain the music in, can easily access all the lyrics and notes and visuals which are meant go along with the songs".
In keeping with this altruistic spirit, the album has warm ambient glow; similar in feel to the recent albums of James Blake with gentle vocals that are reminiscent of John Martyn.
The most prominent instruments are piano and violin. Broderick says that "the sonic timbre of the songs was as important as the music itself".
Frederick Stormer plays upright bass on several tracks and Peter's sister Heather Woods Broderick contributes additional vocals. The album was produced by Nils Frahm.
Most of the songs were written in dedication to someone or something in particular. Exceptions are With The Notes On Fire, where the barely decipherable words are sounds inspired by the melody, and the opening track (I Am Piano) which is a minimalist and meditative piece where the only lyric is a repetition of the title.
Asleep is one of the 'story' songs; a poignant tribute to a close friend who passed away in a kayaking accident. For this, Broderick invited people to submit recordings of a short dedication he had written and the track incorporates these readings as a collective act of remembrance.
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Another touching song is Blue which Broderick's father wrote and recorded on a cassette tape when he was 19 and contains the simple message that you should always stay true to your feelings.
The most commercial tune, and a kind of album trailer, is the title track where the breezy chorus spells out the website address. Ironically, Broderick says that "one of the happiest sounding songs is, underneath all the fluff, one of the most troubling".
Other songs draw on friendship (Colin) and bitter sweet memories such as a recollection of a romantic letter exchange (A Tribute To Our Letter Writing Days) and a dedication to a bird he accidentally killed (Trespassing).
Broderick is from Portland, Oregon but now lives in Berlin and one song (Bad Words) has some lyrics in German (written by Nils Frahm) as a response to a friend's comment that his music is too sweet.
A quality of Broderick's song writing is his ability to draw something affirmative from unlikely sources. For instance, graffiti on a metal toilet door inspired Everything I Know written after being confronted by the words "you're probably stupid" and being prompted to take a black marker pen to add "....but you're still beautiful".
The underlying subtext to this song, and the album as a whole, is unashamedly optimistic. He's not afraid of being accused of cheesiness so he seems to be saying: 'there is love here and I want to share it'. It's an offer that should be welcomed with open arms.
Weblink to the album
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