087: Floral Portrait, by Floral Portrait

087: Floral Portrait

by Floral Portrait

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FLORAL PORTRAIT - S/T VINYL
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1.	Silver Thread Lullaby (Introduction) 00:54	buy track
2.	Clarissa 03:09	buy track
3.	Winter Isolation 02:18	buy track
4.	Rain & Vale 01:35	buy track
5.	Paisley Park 03:01	buy track
6.	Portrait of E 03:55	buy track
7.	Sunset Stroll 03:02	buy track
8.	Waves 03:14	buy track
9.	Vale & Variations 00:43	buy track
10.	Silver-Thread Lullaby 03:03	buy track

about

"ONE QUICK SMILE TO EVERYONE YOU'RE MEETING"

For over a decade now, much of independent and experimental pop has been sequestered to the safety and seclusion of a bedroom, with hushed vocals and reverb-laden instrumentation forming a protective cocoon around the oftentimes solo songwriter. FLORAL PORTRAIT is definitely not that. Born from the creative energies of UGA's Hugh Hodgson School of Music graduate Jason Bronson, Floral Portrait is a highly collaborative, maximalist recording venture in which friends and former classmates alike utilize a legitimate recording studio to bring Bronson's stately compositions to life.

Inspired by pop auteurs like The Zombies and The Beach Boys, as well as Atlanta pop underground's Sunset Honor Unit in which he plays keyboards, Bronson has crafted ten songs for his peers among them - SHU/Delorean Gray bandmates Jacob Chisenhall and Freeman Leverett - to flesh out within The Glow (Athens producer Jesse Mangum's storied studio space). Tracks like the precociously sweet "Clarissa" and the heart-achingly grandiose "Winter Isolation" wear their apparent refinement with an inviting, peppy pride. Some of the more obtuse harmonies in songs like "Paisley Park" melodically bring to mind the Brian Wilson-ad-futurism of modern avant pop contemporaries like Palm or Red Sea. "Sunset Stroll" evokes Girls and the masterful impressionism of Chet "JR" White's production precision, toeing the line of homage but keeping things more visionary than simply revivalist.

And despite the whimsical and fun nature of the songs, Bronson is dead serious about the craft of his pure pop. More of a composer than anything, he sometimes spends years honing in on the specifics of a song he is creating, ever-learning, testing progressions, analyzing works of the past, and totally restarting to craft a product he finds satisfying enough for himself and listeners alike. Mangum called this record "the most ambitious record I've ever worked on"; they spent about 4 years together on this record. He is a firm believer in the direct line between Tin Pan Alley Pop, the Great American Songbook, Burt Bacharach, Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, up until & including the present. The new album is a stunning first glimpse into that vision -- baroque, highly-refined, sweeping chamber pop, detailed but not laborious.

MBR has always possessed a certain innate out-of-step character, often trafficking in bright, succinct classic pop forms while partaking in scenes (and frankly, a world) that tend to skew darker, more modern, zeitgeist-y. Channeling the honest essence of our spiritual seigneurs in the Elephant 6, Floral Portrait is a stunning watershed piece in our ongoing ideal of producing timeless, enchanting records via common, organic means. Take a walk around your block and give it a listen -- Jason Bronson knocked it out of the park with this one.

credits

released January 28, 2023

Recorded at The Glow Recording Studio, Athens, Georgia, 2018-2022,
Jesse Mangum, Engineer
& at Dancz Center For New Music, University of Georgia, 2019, Annie Leeth, Engineer

Jason Bronson - lead vocals (tracks 3, 5, 8, 10), piano, tack piano, harpsichord, Danelectro Guitar, ride cymbals, tambourine, sleigh bell, triangle, chime tree, thunder gourd, music box, footsteps, composition/scores

Jacob Chisenhall - lead vocals (tracks 2 & 6), backing vocals (tracks 3, 5, 10), Rickenbacker guitar, Martin guitar, lap steel guitar, sleigh bell, vocal arrangement (tracks 6 &10)

Freeman Leverett - Hofner bass, baritone guitar, autoharp, drumset, tambourine, triangle, shaker, additional percussion arrangements (tracks 2 & 3)

Session Musicians:

J.P. Brien-Slack - violin
Sahada Buckley - violin
Sydney Doemel - violin
Vivian Cheng - violin
Annie Leeth - violin
Sean Askin - viola
Hattie Wiesbrook - viola
Ian Chen - cello
Ayako Pederson - cello
Jordi Lara - cello

Julia Gu - harp

Alexis Letourneau - flute
Clare Nunley - flute
Kathryn Koopman - clarinet
Miller May - baritone saxophone
Greg Hamilton - bass clarinet

Josh Klein - trumpet
Dilon Bryan - french horn
Andrew Sehmann - french horn

Scott Davis - vibraphone, glockenspiel, woodblocks, tubular bells, cog rattle, chime tree, congas/bongos, flexitone
Trevor Barroero - congas/bongos, snare drum, vibraslap, claves, triangle, guiro, shaker, extended techniques (percussion)
Steven Ledbetter - drumset
Jesse Mangum - extended techniques (percussion)

Artwork by Jason Bronson, Alex Davis, Cole Eugine

Special thanks to Natalie Olson, Andy Barton, Scottie Stephens, Alex Davis, Drew Kirby, Ian Hemerlein, Liz Farrell, Grayson Pynn, Victavious Wilson, Andi Gillis, Nathan Sheets, Zola Olson, Katie O’Shaughnessy, Gordon Wery, Lane Gardner, Kyler Vollmar, Gavin Jackson, Grace Ferzely, Isabella Dobbins, Ajmal Millar, Julia Stewart, Steven Patterson, Cole Eugine, Katlyn Lawrence, Ivano Milo, Dan Phipps, Payton Anderson, Camille Annan, Gabrielle Howes, Jody Rollins, Chris Bronson, Carmelita Rodriguez Bronson, & above all, Brian Wilson

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about

Marching Banana Atlanta, Georgia

MARCHING BANANA represents a loose coalition of artists based between Atlanta & Athens, Ga. with a tendency to meld outsider pop with a modernized DIY home-recording ethic.

POP & NOISE. FOUNDED IN 2011.

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