“I’m obsessed with failure,” says Brian Dunne. “It’s so much more interesting to me than success, so much more honest and human.”
Truth be told, we all feel like failures on some level, like frauds and freaks and fuckups just waiting to be found out. Enter: Loser On The Ropes, Dunne’s entrancing new album and debut release for the storied Kill Rock Stars label. Recorded in Athens, GA, with producer Drew Vandenberg (Faye Webster, Of Montreal), the collection explores defeat and denial, fortune and faith, shame and redemption, all set against the backdrop of a world run by blowhards and bullshitters who manage to perpetually skate by without cost or consequence. Dunne may be a singer/songwriter in the purely technical sense of the term, but he shares more in common on this album with the punks and new wave weirdos who turned up in lower Manhattan and the outer boroughs in the ’70s and ’80s, DIY misfits who came to crash the party and ended up building their own scene instead. That’s not to say Loser On The Ropes is a punk album—in fact, it might be the most beautiful and melodic record Dunne’s ever made—but rather that the songs are lean and gritty, sick of mincing words and insistent on cutting straight to the heart of things with a raw, understated poeticism. The arrangements are similarly unsettled, drifting in and out of focus as they glow with the after-hours sheen of a city street on a rainy night. While it would be easy to get lost in the darkness of it all, Loser On The Ropes instead emerges as something much more resilient and exhilarating, as a celebration of the down-and-out, of the punch-drunk fighter in each of us who heads back into the ring with a bloody nose and a crooked smile, hungry for another round because it sure as hell beats giving up.
credits
released April 14, 2023
Produced, mixed and engineered by Drew Vandenberg at Chase Park Transduction, Athens, GA
Track 6 produced and mixed by Andrew Sarlo at Pioneer Studios, Brooklyn, NY and Sarlo’s, Los Angeles, CA
Mastered by Sarah Register
Brian Dunne - Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Additional piano and synth, All instruments on “Sometime After This”
Annie Leeth - Violin
Jojo Glidewell - Piano, Synth
Jeremy Wheatley - Drums, Percussion
Lizzie No - Background vocals on “Optimist”
Art design by Rob Jones and Alex Wright
Photos by Lukasz Palka in Tokyo, Japan
Management: Jessica K Martin for Marionette Management
Publicity: Michelle Steele at Missing Piece Group
supported by 10 fans who also own “Loser On The Ropes”
As I listen to this album more and more I start discover aspects that I hadn't felt before. My love for every individual track continues to grow, but Change has remained in my heart as a deep drive to get me through the day. seonghi
supported by 8 fans who also own “Loser On The Ropes”
1st time i heard DeathWish, i turned it off.
felt rushed, not the Isbell i've come to admire. really grab'd me when i took time to listen on the 2nd try. the writing on these songs stopped me in my tracks more than once. raw talent with just enough polish in the delivery.
thankyou Jason + 400 for another keeper swirlingmadness
Lisa/Liza's delicate psychedelic folk tunes make something beautiful and graceful from the traumatic experiences of chronic illness. Bandcamp New & Notable May 2, 2023