While listening to Brazos’ first full-length album, a variety of words and thoughts come to mind: joyous, soaring, contemplative and boundless. Homegrown, exciting, and brimming with optimism, Phosphorescent Blues, is core member Martin Crane’s first release in two and a half years, and it was worth the wait.

After his last EP, A City Just As Tall, Martin Crane spent the past two years, searching for and finally finding a steady lineup for Brazos: Crane on vocals, guitar, and various other instruments; Andy Beaudoin on drums, and Paul Price on electric bass. Working with other musicians, as opposed to the single-handed manner in which his last EP was recorded, has given Crane a certain concision in his music, as well as grace and rhythm in his lyricism, as promptly evidenced by the first track, “My Buddy”. “The station is an empty hall is an empty ride / I call it mine / the nose remembers / the smell of old graffiti / the end of conversations / the waiting in silence.” This doesn’t stop after the beginning track and Crane’s fervent vocals carve a deep track in every song. The album as a whole is remarkably sparse considering how much emotion is packed into each song, and, as I said before, Crane’s vocals are one of the driving forces behind it. His lilting voice adds a certain wistfulness to the album, encouraging the listener to yearn for places both long forgotten and places not yet visited. It inspires longing for friends lost to the passing of time, and the need to find those friends not yet met. It’s a hopeful album with a melancholic undertone that will leave the listener simultaneously bewildered and thoroughly satisfied.

That being said, Phosphorescent Blues is not simply just another vocal showcase (as has often been the case in the past few years in the wake of Justin Vernon’s performance in his Bon Iver project), and, just like A City Just As Tall, Crane once again displays his ability to work with a variety of grains and textures within an album. “Pues”, for example, a simple piano number, is reminiscent of the saddest carnival you’ve ever seen, with a simple rise and fall of notes, changing the mood from something, if not morose, to something considerably more subdued.

Then Brazos throws in “Day Glo”, one of the most memorable songs on the album. It is not so much for its radical difference from the other songs; the tempo’s still just about the same and it’s still artfully spare and wistful to a fault. In fact, it’s because of this similarity to every other song that it’s one of the best and most memorable. Whereas each other song is of definite composition, and individual flavor, “Day Glo,” better than any other one song best represents the general sound of Brazos. Crane’s vocals still sashay to and fro through the other instruments, knitting the band together into the perpetual dream machine we know it can be. A raw, natural guitar strums the same couple chords, both continuing the momentum of the song, and restraining it, while reminding the song of its boundaries. All the while, a single piano note is played over and over again behind all else, providing, more than the drum kit, the rhythm to which the song marches. Then, in characteristic Brazos style, something unexpected is thrown into the mix. Near the last third of the song, around the 2:10 mark, the sound dissolves quickly away. Only rapid, fading piano flourishes provide a false end to the song. It quickly picks up the pace again and continues in the same way as before, then wanders lazily to an end, played out by those same guitar chords, the timing unchanged.

If I had to describe the album with a single word, I’d have to go with outstanding. We all remember hearing some of the current indie rock greats for the first time: that unique sound, that hook that grabbed us, that little voice in the back of our heads telling us that we’ve never heard anything like it before, and that flavor that lays itself thick over your mind, warranting repeated listens day after day. This is exactly how I felt when I heard this album. Brazos have opened for the likes of Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear, Wye Oak, and Bowerbirds. With the strength of this album, by their next one, they could be headlining with those bands. Brazos and Martin Crane have produced a unique album, and one you won’t quickly forget.

Track List:
1. My Buddy (3:56)
2. Kid (3:54)
3. The Observer (5:07)
4. Avignon (3:08)
5. Pues (2:37)
6. Day Glo (3:27)
7. Tell (3:17)
8. We Understand Each Other (4:01)
9. Downtown Boys (5:25)
10. For So Long Now (5:22)