Masterful

Album: New Pagan Love Song
By Sylvie Simmons

Similarly undervalued – if young and from New York – Brill writes masterful songs , singing them (as I recently saw him do live, solo, with acoustic guitar) with an understated beauty a la Elliott Smith or E of eels. On his third full album, he plays with sound and production in an un-Americana way, using electro-percussion, piano and grooves, but the songs are no less good
.

One of the most sophisticated, yet subtle, indie songwriters around.

Album: New Pagan Love Song
Issue No. 898

For a guy that lives in New York City, singer-songwriter Paul Brill makes music in refreshing contrast to the NYC grit, paranoia and garage rock hype
. “Weekday Bender,” for instance, has a carefree west coast vibe, its twinkling Fender Rhodes piano invoking a drive along the coast with the top down while Brill’s layered harmonies tip you off to time spent in California with his former band, SF Envelope. The more people hear Brill songs, the more he’ll be referred to as one of the most sophisticated, yet subtle, indie songwriters around.

ATTN: Fans of Ron Sexsmith, Sparklehorse, John Vanderslice
KEY TRACKS: “Weekday Bender,” Everything I Believe In, ” “Desert Song”

Singer-Songwriter Melds Folk And Electronics On New Record
Album: Electricana
By David Chiu

Paul Brill’s defining moment did not occur with a guitar in his hand. Instead, in the wake of his San Francisco band SF Envelope’s breakup, he found himself in his native New York, working at an East Harlem middle school for at-risk kids. “I was really burnt-out on playing music, so I ended up doing development work, cooking lunches and teaching,” says the soft-spoken singer-songwriter. “It was a transformative time for me
. I became interested in social justice and equity for children of color. And after a year working there, the inspiration returned to keep going with my music.”

Thoughtful and arresting… Brill’s defining moment.

The time away also gave Brill a chance to digest new sounds, as evident by his latest album New Pagan Love Song , which blends electronic textures with a folk-rock sound. He dubs it “electricana” — half electronica, half acoustic Americana. “I was
listening to a ton of electronic music,” he explains. “I really had a strong desire to completely reinterpret what I was doing. With this album, I did most of it myself with all the electronic gear at home.”

Of the new songs — sung in Brill’s gentle, heartfelt voice — his favorite is “Powerlines.” “I was really struggling. I wrote that as a folky, singer-songwriter thing, and I didn’t want to do any songs like that on the record. So I decided to throw away the guitar and go for the loops.”

Brill’s songs are melancholic anthems for the weary and down-and-out. He singles out the title track as the closest to anything upbeat. “It was the starting point for the record,” he says. “Images of late fall, an Indian-summer kind of vibe.” Although he’s now focused on music, Brill — who plays a string of California dates starting November 30th — still volunteers his time in East Harlem as a tutor, even putting in the occasional middle-school performance. “I did some shows with my band, and the kids came and sang and danced with me onstage,” he says. “They knew the songs! It was amazing.”

FIRST TAKE // Music
Album: “New Pagan Love Song”
By Stephanie Davis

On his third album, Paul Brill stuffs in so many electronic and organic sounds – xylophone, strings instruments, cut-up beats – it’s surprising he has room for lyrics. And while the music is engrossing, it’s his sly, pretty voice and acidic take on life – that sucks you in
. Cuts like “Weekday Bender” and “The Troubled Life of Herschel Grimes” are catchy enough to make popping pills and slapping people around sound like jolly undertakings,

…could have been the soundtrack to a lost Wes Anderson film.

but Brill can also fall convincingly into a ballad like “Everything I Believe in,” which is slinkier and closer to a soppy Coldplay sound. Zooming in on life’s ironies and the futility of relationships, Pagan sounds like it could have been the soundtrack to a lost Wes Anderson film.