PETER BRODERICK
4 Track Songs
TYPE044
Type Recordings 2009
25 Tracks. 52mins41secs

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD Amazon US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD

It’s just over two years since Peter Broderick’s debut mini album, Docile, was released on Kning Disk. Since, this prolific musician has released music on Bella Union, Erased Tapes, Secret Furry Hole and Digitalis. His most recent outputs, Music From Falling Trees and Five Film Score Outtakes, showcased his wonderfully airy and fluid classical work, but he is equally at ease with folk and pop songs. As the title suggests, this latest output, once again on Type, consists exclusively of songs recorded on tape, captured as and when they took shape, when Broderick was still pretty unknown, originally collected on two CDRs which were then sent to Type in the hope of getting him noticed.

The tracks featured here range from beautiful little improvised vignettes on the piano and delicate instrumentals played on the violin, hinting at what Float was to become, to gentle guitar-led folk songs, anticipating Broderick’s poppier side, as showcased on Home. The lo-fi quality of these recordings renders them disarmingly fragile and pure, allowing for Broderick’s incredibly musicianship and exquisite flair for melodies to transpire very vividly through each and every note. Anyone who has had the privilege to see him perform live alone will appreciate the delicate layering of some of these compositions (For Pop, Get Well Soon, A Former Soundtrack). Often, these tracks are no more than quick sketches and half-formed songs (For Dave, Three Cats), but occasionally, a piece appears more developed and fully structured (More Of A Composition, Jenn Is Sick, Looking/Thinking, The Cold). It is as if Broderick was only lifting a little piece of the veil over his work, purposefully leaving gaps, hinting at much richer moments and at an as yet unfulfilled potential.

There is, here, very little consistency between tracks, none of these having been recorded with any master plan in mind, but it curiously adds to the poetic aspect of the record. 4 Track Songs resembles the bric-a-brac of an antiques shop, where little gems and treasures are found in the most unexpected places. And there are many gems scattered throughout, songs and pieces that may never have been taken much further than the state they are presented here, others that have become part of his live set, all which appear here in rough form, pure and stunning. This collection records the very beginning of a journey that can only continue for a long time.

4.2/5

Peter Broderick (MySpace) | Type Recordings
Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD Amazon US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD