Introducing: Beat Radio – Real Love & 3 questions

I have written about Beat Radio’s video/single Dissociation Blues and I really loved it. I have been super excited to listen to this full album out on my favorite label Totally Real Records.

“Founded in 2005, Beat Radio’s textured sound splits the difference between lo-fi indie-pop, folk jangle, and emo vulnerability. You don’t juggle songwriting with raising five kids while recording demos in a laundry room if you don’t believe every word and on Real Love, Beat Radio’s sixth album, it’s clear that Sendrowitz does. Now rounded out by Jimenez’s wife Kathryn Froggatt on backing vox/bass/tambourine, Real Love ripples with catharsis and hard-fought empathy. Choruses reach out for understanding through the pain and disconnect.”

I recommend you read the full bio as well.

I would love to have such fancy words to describe the music, but I, unfortunately, do not have them.

This morning is a beautiful Fall morning. Firstly, there was a mist and then the sun came up and all the trees were colorful and beautiful. Somehow this album fits this mood very much.

The album is also full of stories we all can relate to.

“went away for a while
and the world feels so different now
and you’re starting again
you’re afraid that you don’t know how”

I recommend you to check out every single track, and listen carefully not only to words but also to the music. It is beautifully constructed. Definitely, an album that needs to be in your ears this fall.

I have written to Brian to ask him our 3 questions.

What inspired you to start making music and what keeps you making music? 

I always felt music really deeply, since I was really young. It was a place where I could live in my own imagination, in a way, slightly detached from the rest of the world. As I got more serious about music in my teenage years, I fell in love with the process of making things, and I still get a lot of joy out of the creative process. A lot of my identity and sense of purpose is wrapped up in that, for better or for worse. I’m happier when I’m making something.

What was the most challenging thing in your music (artistic) path?

I think I’ve often struggled with managing my expectations for my music, in terms of finding ways to define what success should look like. I’ve also struggled with managing my artistic life with what my family has needed from me. For a long time, I had this unrealistic utopian view of it, that I could be a good dad and husband, work a full-time job, and follow my dream in music without having to really compromise much. But the reality was that meant my wife had to carry an unfair burden, in managing things with the family. It took me a really long time to see that, and I didn’t want to acknowledge it because it didn’t fit nicely with the story I had about myself. I tried to write about that with the new record, and that is what a lot of the songs are about. But it also turns out that writing songs isn’t the best way to make amends for that kind of thing. It takes a lot more than that.

What would you dream to do if anything was possible?

My dream for music would be to get to tour this new record and have it be financially possible. I started rehearsing with Phil and Kathryn last week for our record release show and it feels like there is so much potential. It would also be great to be able to play with Mike and Jim who we made the first album The Great Big Sea with. On a more personal note, I got to go to Europe with my wife Liz a few different times this past year, and I’d really love to be able to do a lot more of that. We went to Paris for our anniversary over the summer and I really fell in love with it.

Order the album on cassettes, vinyl, or digital.