An Open Letter to Dominic Fawcett of the Band Bruin

Dear Mr. Fawcett,

I am writing this to you as I am preparing to leave San Diego. In this time of transition and change, I find myself set upon by a spirit of communion. As I reflect on my time spent in this corner of creation, I am struck by how appropriate your release, Seasons of Us, is to the time, place and collaborative aesthetic that spawned it.

At this point, I would like to break the narrative flow by asking you to please cool it on that Goddamned flanger.

Moving on. The aforementioned synchronicity is a blessing and a curse. At your best, you remind me of the most important and blessed experiences I have had here. At your worst, you remind me of why the rest of America may have a real possibility of, through some geological animism, induce in its hindquarters an earthquake of such cataclysmic proportions that San Diego cracks off from the mainland and sinks into the abyss only to be rediscovered by future generations of underwater archaeologists (who will no doubt wonder what bizarre weather conditions caused so perpetual of a wind that all hats in the entire city were perpetually tilted).

Again, this is me reminding you to cool it on the flanger.

I can separate you, Dominic. You are incapable of mono, but you are perfection in stereo. This is where I become frustrated. Your music is confident, and it reminds me of what a shame it is that chillwave took this long to grow some balls and slam some jams. But aside from the quality of the aural brass, I’m impressed by just how intelligently orchestrated Seasons of Us is. The flow from track to track is perfect, but even more significant is how the source samples, diverse as they are, buckle and bend so carefully to the will of a master manipulator. In the sample game, the victor is usually he who digs deepest to find gold. On Season of Us, not only have you dug deep enough to boil yourself in molten rock, but you’ve brought exactly the right artifacts from the surface with you. It takes a fat sack to think you’re a bad enough dude to sample Sam Cook – it takes a flash of brilliance to do it right. From there you touch some truly unexpected and truly impressive reference points, channeling everything from A Tribe Called Quest (on “Autumn”) to The Legend of the Mystical Ninja soundtrack (on “Winter”). The influences are broadly painted enough to invite everyone to the party while still being specific enough to make snobbish pricks like myself happy. Well done. Seriously, sick ass job, bro.

I hope you haven’t forgotten to cut that flanger shit out. I know I haven’t mentioned it in awhile, but you should seriously keep that in mind.

But ah yes, the frustration bit that I mentioned in the last paragraph. Let me address that. Dominic, you’ve probably got a good voice. I can hear bit and pieces of it gurgle up from time to time and I like what I hear. The problem is that more often than not, I can’t hear a single fucking thing you’re beneath the metric ton of effects you’ve applied to your vocals. You almost got it right on “Spring”. The effects aren’t overly intrusive there, I can understand what the bleeding fuck you’re saying and the melody and lyrics pair wonderfully with the open-air backing track. Then “Summer Daze” comes along. You’ve already got one strike against you for stealing song names from Baby’s First Book of Metaphors (available now from whatever cocksuckers publish CliffNotes and Spin Magazine). Then you rack up two more boners by constructing an effigy of Dors Feline from your effects rack and having her sit on your fucking face while you try to sing. I see in my mind a vision of your live setup – standup drummer bro, lappytoppy bro, you lying flat on your back holding a guitar and your head FUCKING ENGULFED BY A GYRATING FLESHPOOL OF ROBOASS.

My face when picturing this:

You redeem yourself with the rest of the album, flowing beautifully into the tracks I commented on before, but even they hint ever so slightly at the horror of “Summer Daze”. Again, its that fucking flanger. Quit it.

Let me close this letter in an encouraging manner because overall, there’s enough gold here to warrant encouragement. You’re on to something good here, Dominic. There’s enough taste and discernment exercised throughout the entirety of Seasons of Us to earn repeat listens and social reccommendations and I think that anyone who attaches themselves to both Bruin and you at this moment will undoubtedly reap the benefits when you drop something game changing which you seem right on track to do…as long as you remember to cool it on the flanger.

Hugs, Kisses and “Good Games”,
Dr. Helm