The Brendan Hines- A True Original

As many times as I write this sentence and try to devise the most flawless adjective for the artist who is undefineable at best, I rest on the word "humbling."

With honesty that soothes you into your chair and then knocks you far off it, Hines writes the kind of songs that many wish they could write if they had 150% more guts, 80 years of hindsight and 6 warmed up strings. I challenge even the most discriminating music critic to spend just five minutes listening to Hines and not be struck with the unyielding desire to know this person, to give him a drink and a chair and let him run his mouth about his hopes, loves and the innumerable corners of the world.

When asked about his influences, the ever-modest artist places wood floors and discarded photos at the top of his list. If this doesn't exactly make sense to you, it's all part of the plan/non-plan. To classify Hines' stylistic inspirations would limit him in the same way that it would to recount the themes of his songs; they derive from everything and are about everything. An instinctive and unconventional storyteller, Hines offers timeless wisdom, played out through humorous plots and relatable characters. Aside from brief references to Argyle street and taxicabs, it is easy to believe that these songs could have been sung 200 years ago to a campfire and an expansive land. Similarly, they could be taken to the moon many decades from now and be counted among the things that hold the same weight on both planets.

It is difficult to pick specific lyrics that are representative of his overall style or talent; while listening to Hines rants about "hard things...all the trouble they bring...the devil," my pen could not move quickly enough to transcribe even half of the memorable lines. In the humorous mal/tender-intentioned song "Guess What," Hines confesses: "I see you and I get ideas, your boyfriend should go outside. And I'll stay here and you'll stay here too, and we can pretend that he died."

In another song, Hines discusses a relationship that functions almost completely for the purpose of saving its partners from being alone. He explains: "She knows she's gorgeous and he knows she cheats. She'd rather wake up with a headache than a handful of sheets." These are intelligent songs, but not ones that the listener needs a thesaurus to get to the heart of. In "Top Shelf," Hines endures life between a rock and a hard place with the help of something hard on the rocks. "Broke and disgusted through the canyons of wealth, everything I swallow threatens my health. I'll stop one day, I promise to myself. I'll stretch until it hurts but I'll reach the top shelf."

While listening, it is difficult not to identify and think: "we have all been there, continue to crawl and grow in these tight crevices of the world and of the heart which serve as the great equalizers." So, yes, I suppose "humbling" is the right word after all, since these songs humble you to look at your own life with the same candor that Brendan sings of his. They humble you to grab a pen, a drink and a guitar, tell a story that leads nowhere and everywhere in the same breath.

Review by Bre Goldsmith
Check out Brendan at www.myspace.com/thebrendanhines