Swing Low

posted in: Artist Features • Pop

There’s a sort of quiet desperation that permeates the music of Timothy Bracken and yields songs that are pitch perfect for restless nights. The West Virginian manages to conjure a lot of feeling out of just a couple instruments”namely keyboards, acoustic guitars and drums”to create a collection of sleepy-eyed slacker anthems. Overflowing is dreamy, multi-tracked bliss meted out in small installments. Braken’s voice is similar to Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum, especially on You Saw Me In The Light, a twilit dreamscape with skittery beats and reverbed vocals. Baseball fans will love the allegory of Dugout, where Bracken warily navigates a doomed relationship, saying, Guess I better put on my helmet before you throw a knuckleball at my head. Love ain’t easy, but it makes for a good song. If Bracken needs to strike out to keep these gems coming, well, batter up.

“Dugout” – Timothy Bracken