Shawn Brown – The Sad Ones (2024)
One way to describe Shawn Brown is boundary-breaking. Drawing together various genres, he saunters from RnB to folk, roots rock to soul fusing everything in an inimitable way. Capturing the core of human experience, his music carefully delves into the intricacies of our trials and tribulations; however, as he expresses the dark turmoil, he simultaneously presents bright hopefulness in his melodies.
Believing that music requires constant evolution to grow as an art, US-based Brown hones his sound with an eclectic spirit. Yet, while diversity exists in his music, a strong link to his hometown roots remains. Following his critically acclaimed single ‘Road of Bones’, Brown shifts from Americana to a soothing folk-pop ballad. Recorded and produced by Grecco Buratto with engineering by Alberto Lopez, mixing by Tiago Becker and mastering by Juan Garcia Petri, ‘The Sad Ones’ is an elegant track blending sophistication and rawness in its melody.
For me, it is not the harmonious flow of the arrangement that truly captures the song’s tenderness; it is how the instruments seem to encourage each other prompting a symphonic quality while retaining individuality. Daniel Clarke’s delicate piano rides along Brendan Buckley’s drums with Buckley’s percussion rushing across, but all holding hands in a mellifluous flow. Atop the beautifully layered and textured melody, Brown’s rich vocals caress the song while reaching out with heartfelt warmth.
The melody is attention-grabbing and soul-stirring, but the honest lyricism delves into the theme of societal pressures with complex vulnerabilities. Brown explains:
“To me, it just seems like we’ve gotten increasingly uncomfortable sitting in our feelings. Vulnerability is hard. Technology makes it harder. It’s way too easy to momentarily pull out our phones and soothe the hard things away. The rough part happens when we then pathologize those same hard feelings… we judge ourselves for simply feeling whatever we’re feeling… The song is meant to make space for just feeling sad. It doesn’t aim to solve or soothe the sad because there’s nothing inherently wrong with just feeling our shit… there’s nothing wrong with being sad, just like there’s nothing wrong with feeling happy.”
In addition to the single, Shawn Brown released a lyric video for ‘The Sad Ones’. You can view the video below or via his YouTube channel.
Find out more about Shawn Brown on his official website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator
Listen to more folk-pop singles on The Other Side Reviews Folk Pop playlist:
