Last week, BRONSON released their much-anticipated debut album. The album was a joint project between ODESZA and Golden Features.
BRONSON is a 10-song collective that displays a departure from the sounds the trio have been associated with in the past. It still retains familiar elements, like the blending of light with dark sounds and the minimalistic use of vocals to emphasize the emotional journey of a song, but the artists created the album with the intent of pushing their creative boundaries – and they definitely succeeded.
They had already released four singles from this album – “Heart Attack”, “Vaults”, “Dawn”, and “Keep Moving” – and from those singles, it was clear that this album was going to be something different. This is an album that you need to listen to straight through, in order, because the trio excels at bringing listeners on a journey that switches between deep, strong percussion and heavy bass and light, airy vocals and slow melodies. The duality throughout the album displays the thoughtfulness behind production and arrangement.
To create a full album experience, they enlisted the help of notable vocalists like lau.ra, Gallant, and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. And true to never doing anything half-heartedly, they also released visual accompaniments for some of the tracks, like a hauntingly beautiful animation for “Heart Attack” and an over-the-top commentary on corporate culture for “Keep Moving.”
I know I’m keeping my fingers crossed for an album tour, even if it means having to wait a year or two. After witnessing the tour for A Moment Apart, I can only begin to imagine what a tour for this album would look and sound like. Here’s to hoping. But in the meantime, I’ll just play this album, available on all streaming platforms, on repeat.
