Premiere: BRAEVES, ‘Bitter Sea’

Kevin Bronson on June 10th, 2016

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Since releasing their debut EP in 2014 and following it up with a single last summer, BRAEVES have departed their home turf of New York and decamped to Los Angeles — a move the indie-rock trio undertook with the mixed emotions conveyed in their new single. “‘Bitter Sea’ is about being in love with our city, but knowing the more we tried the more we found ourselves forcing something that wasn’t there,” the band says. “It’s a strange thing being so deeply connected to a place and at the same time it feeling so alien to us. We knew even though we love New York leaving was our only way of finding clarity, and Brooklyn was personified into a relationship. That being said, it’s the city that will always hold our hearts.”

Given the song’s affecting, airy vocals and propulsive beat, the trio — singer-guitarist Ryan Colt Levy, bassist Derek Tramont and drummer-vocalist Thomas Killian McPhillips VII — sound like they soared all the way from East Coast to West. The song was made with producer Raymond Richards (Local Natives, et al) — BRAEVES were the last band Richards worked with before relocating his studio to Portland — with additional production by Dave Trumfio. In fact, BRAEVES’ earlier music had earned comparisons to the likes of Local Natives and the Shins, and “Bitter Sea” is likely to put a twinkle in the eye of fans of either.

||| Stream: “Bitter Sea”