Dazed In The Life

On Sunday evening I read an interview in the Tribune with a young singer-songwriter who I had never heard of called Jay Brannan. The interview conveyed someone with a complex backstory, a quirky sense of humour and an off-beat view of the world and what music should say and do. Curious, I Youtubed him, as you do these days. What you come across are videos of some extraordinarily beautiful songs, unconventional in music, lyric and execution certainly, but nevertheless deeply touching. That’s a word, touching, which gets flung about a bit too easily but in the case of Jay Brannan, it fits perfectly. The gay son of a conservative Baptist Texas family refuses to fit any mould other than his own.

So, having spent a good hour initiating myself in the music, I thought “To hell with it, let’s go see him” – he was to play at Crawdaddy on Wednesday May 6th, so no time like the present. Onto Ticketmaster, buy a ticket for a mere €12 and wait.

Tonight rolled along and I took myself to the Pod. I won’t lie: Despite Brannan’s clearly-stated desire not to become known as “the gay singer”, the patrons tonight were mostly male and wearing skinny jeans. The guy is good-looking and talented, it’s no wonder he attracts that attention. But when he came out, cracked his wry smile with some easy irony and started his set, it was hard to NOT fall in love with Jay.

The songs move between extremes of pathos and sardonic humour. He isn’t afraid to mix the deepest emotion with the plainest of language, as one shouldn’t be. His lyrics are clever, stilted eyeglasses which give a new, strange and vivid view of their subject, from love to hate, from bombs to blowjobs. He is entirely self-taught, a fact which explains his music’s roughness around the edges, but there is inherent sense and sensitivity in his chords and riffs, while rough is certainly not a word you would use to describe his voice. It is like listening to silk flow across teflon, as pure and untarnished as you could wish for. It’s not just a voice to die for, but one you could die listening to.

Flicking between self-deprecating and sincere, asking if “Dolores O’Riordan and Sinéad” have shown up, bemoaning Ryanair’s desire to charge him for his CDs and begging us to buy them if only to save on costs, flashing quick smiles or sharp barbs at audience members, it’s as though Brannan is addressing a close friend, half-starting a song before being distracted by a thought. Charismatic is the word – he could bottle and sell the stuff. He’s not afraid to speak his mind – that’s the nature of his work. And although I was at the gig alone, it certainly didn’t feel like it, as Jay drew me in, engaged me, told me his stories and, in doing so, asked me for mine.

That’s what the word “touching” means – that what you witness tells you something and demands a response. It answers your questions and asks questions of you too. Brannan is happy to joke and present a devil-may-care side, but in his songs he blends that with truth, sincerity and depth. It’s not just what he tells, it’s how he tells it. This guy should go far – his cover of Bob Dylan’s “Blowing In The Wind”, a capella except for an African kashaka (a percussion instrument which, as Brannan points out, resembles anal beads), was brilliant, piercing, soaring. But his own songs, of which “Soda Shop”, “Housewife” and “Can’t Have It All” are just some of my favourites, are works of art in their own right. I felt it only proper to spread the word. In a couple years time, I’m sure I won’t be able to get a parking spot NEAR wherever Brannan is playing for €12, but I’ll always be able to say I saw him way-back-when. This was his second time playing in Dublin. Hopefully it won’t be the last. I wish this talented artist every success in what he does and where his life leads because he deserves it.

For more on Jay, go to http://jaybrannan.com/ . Check him out on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/jaybrannan or buy his album, “Goddamned” on iTunes – it’s excellent, trust me. He’s also on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jaybrannan and on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=88498428544&ref=mf#/pages/Jay-Brannan/6625639185?sid=2b785b44b4e34767e1677fd3a8c2a5ec&ref=search .