Boy Bjorn releases debut album ‘Mistaken Animals’ via Communion | Tackles isolation, anxiety, acceptance
Boy Bjorn releases beautiful debut album
Mistaken Animals today via Communion, tackling themes of isolation, anxiety and acceptance across 11 understated, compelling tracks
Boy Bjorn – ‘Mistaken Animals’ (album)https://boybjorn.lnk.to/MistakenAnimals
After slowly inviting people into his world with a series of pre-release singles, Boy Bjorn unveils his debut record ‘Mistaken Animals’, out now via Communion Records.
Across three poignant tracks ‘Anchorage’, ‘Alone At The Severance’ and ‘Now I’m Running’ Communion’s latest signee and Wisconsin native Boy Bjorn explored hefty, personal topics including nostalgia, isolation and anxiety. These three tracks were just a preview of a beautiful, open record; a cathartic release for a uniquely talented artist.
The last tune to be written for the record, and lead single, ‘Now I’m Running’, is perhaps the most revelatory statement on the LP. Coming to fruition a mere matter of hours after the original seed of inspiration took hold, it sees Boy Bjorn (AKA Brian Holl) tackle his anxiety head-on, an expression of how it feels to be inside his head during an attack, as well as when he has a clear mind and the right perspective.
“I wrote it as an olive branch to others who have suffered or suffer” he says, “I needed that insight when I was in the worst of it. I needed to know that others couldn’t control it as well, that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I needed to learn that every day was a step towards healing. It’s ultimately a celebration of the scars it left me with. That I wouldn’t give up my experience for softer skin.”
In recognising both sides of the issue in one fell swoop, Holl also provides a thematic bridge between the creation and presentation stages of the album cycle.
Holing up in his bedroom studio for 16 months to write, arrange and record the album alone from scratch was a study in isolation. He even created all the art himself, and his wife took his press shots.
However, on completion, the focus shifted to collaboration – via remixes (by Dizzy and Eric Hillman, his band mate in Foreign Fields), music videos and live shows. The two shades in the process here are a reflection of his attitude to his anxiety, with ‘Now I’m Running’ a thematic and musical centrepiece, a fixed point in time and mind linking the two sides together.
In his short solo existence Brian has already earned acclaim from BBC Radio 1, Clash Magazine and The 405, building on recognition from PASTE, The Line of Best Fit and more as one half of electronic folk duo Foreign Fields. He’ll also be taking his live show on the road for a couple of festival appearances, with a Midwest tour in the works.
Boy Bjorn’s debut LP ‘Mistaken Animals’ is out now via Communion Records.
Download or stream here
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Matty Aston / 07969 972044 / matthew@supercatpr.co.uk or Lewis Lloyd-Kinnings / 07922 007049 / lewis@supercatpr.co.uk
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Live dates
October 13th – NYC – Underwater Sunshine Festival
