review me patiently, review me honestly

it's not too often that you can take an honest listen to indie-pop and like it beyond the fun and zip of indie-pop. with brighten's early love ep though, any music listener can take something away from it. of course it's the same fun, well-written, tight melodies we expect from brighten, but this ep marks a clear line between the adolescent record making of their past and real life, song writing of grown up's with grown up struggles and feelings. not to take away anything from brighten's two previous independent releases. it's never enough to stay the same and brighten has been foreced to grow up and mature in the past years since king vs. queen was released in 2007.


for justin richards, song writer and brighten frontman, he has a lot to write about these days: the well-documented disaster with an unknown label (if you don't know, don't ask: they won't talk about it), releasing king vs. queen independently, broken relationships, changes in the band, being broke, and wrecking their van last spring have been more than enough lyrical fuel to light the bonfire.

not that anyone in brighten would have a bad attitude though. for brighten, to be angry or bitter about any of it would represent a bigger failure than quitting and giving up.

"nobody ever writes about real love anymore. i wanted people to feel love and hear truth when they listened to it. i just tried to bring positivity back into music" says richards.

if the music industry made sense, brighten should leave behind the flashbang-graveyard that is indie-pop and become a household name. but as with most great bands, industry success remains tantalizingly elusive for brighten. and while they continue to be courted by records labels of all shape and size, the right deal with the right label continues to be justin's white whale. studio eyes will be watching this week as the early love is released (itunes, smartpunk) and as long as the early love is judged by it's quality and not the hype of the marketplace, brighten should be well on their way - with a van and with gas in the tank and on tours that make sense.

catch brighten with a novel form on saturday, september 13th at solid ground cafe.