Becoming Young – Stand Down (Spotify)

Becoming Young’s Brandon Calano grows wiser on exhilarating, epiphanic, and episodic pop album, The Songs I Wrote You

The popular saying goes: People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. There are also those people who saunter into your life for one night, but you spend a lifetime reeling from the connection. For award-winning pop artist Becoming Young (Brandon Calano), one crisp and cool summer Colorado night he met someone who seismically shifted his superficial bro-ish trajectory. The fallout from this millennial fairytale of emotionally reckless romance became his sophomore album, The Songs I Wrote You.

“All of the songs are letters to ‘her.’ The record follows a jovial, funny, turbulent, draining, haunting, and, ultimately, hopeful story about two people who never should have met, but ended up in love,” the Nashville-based artist says with a good-natured laugh.

The eight-song collection was written as the captivating drama played out. The Brandon of the album opener, “Reverie,” isn’t the same Brandon as the closer, “Stand Down.” “I could never have imagined or planned the twists and turns this album takes. It’s one hell of an emotional roller-coaster,” he says.

The listener savoring the salacious saga from the sidelines can immerse themselves in the excitement via the record’s experiential episodic release schedule as a series of singles that begin releasing in January 2021. These one-song installments boast liner notes on the cover artwork—seemingly, the first of its kind—revealing the story behind each song’s lyrics and how every track fits within the overarching narrative arc.

Parallel to chronicling a period of intense growth and introspection, this body of work also marks artistic maturation. This is the album where Brandon defined the Becoming Young aesthetic. It’s a vibe best described as the feel-good folk-pop of Vance Joy and the dark grandeur of Dermot Kennedy, injected with the euphoric pop sensibility of Lauv and the fiery emotionality of Matt Maeson.

Brandon worked with three different producers on The Songs I Wrote You, including Ryan Hadlock (Lumineers, Vance Joy), Austin Shawn (Sony/BMG), and producer John McVey (Yonder Mountain String Band). In addition, Brandon co-produced and produced some of the tracks himself. The Songs I Wrote You was mixed by John O'Mahony (Matt Maeson, Coldplay).

The story goes that in the summer of 2018, at the apex of Brandon’s Feeling Single fury, he threw a welcome-home party for a close friend. She brought along a mysterious and intriguing girl. The new pair didn’t hit it off at the party, but spurred on by alcohol and late-night antics, they kissed in the backseat of their mutual friend’s car.

It was a blurry opening salvo, but the duo clarified their connection the following week with a proper date. The romantic reconnaissance was a success, and Brandon subsequently wrote the folk-pop gem “Reverie.” With emotive keyboard atmospherics, stately string touches, and back-porch acoustic guitar strums, Brandon sings, bursting with joy. One choice redemptive romantic passage is: But I saw the light in her face, the love in her heart and the way she made/One of my darkest days turn to a memory of grace as she kissed me and said, Boy I think you'll be okay.

The drama begins on the second song, “No Strings Attached,” where the weary and reluctant twosome decide to redirect their connection to something of a casual encounter. The song’s chill verses are offset by explosive choruses, reflecting the pent-up energy from sublimating feelings. On the haunting emotional centerpiece, “Addicted,” he shares his forbidden love struggle with rich and sensual low-register vocals. On the very next song, “Silent Words,” Brandon has a powerful moment of clarity, realizing he’s in too deep.

The record concludes with “Stand Down,” a poetic and courageously vulnerable pop track that manages to be moody and anthemic, without being sappy. During the song’s bridge, Brandon sings: Say it now, say it now, won’t you let in, let me in/Say it now, say something now, won’t let in, let me in. Here, he’s at the gates of her heart, boldly confessing his feelings. The camera pans out, and credits roll. We don’t know if there is a happily-ever after resolution, and it’s a little maddening. When prodded, Brandon candidly shared: “I’m already writing the aftermath record. I can’t reveal the title as it gives away the cliffhanger that comes at the end of TSIWY.”

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