Brandon De La Cruz - New Signs (Self Release)

The Slow Music Movement
6 days ago
2 min read

Brandon De La Cruz first came to my attention a couple of years ago with his great Two Kilos of Blue album, a translucent electroacoustic folk masterpiece that was tragically overlooked by the music press, blogosphere and streaming algorithms.

Undeterred, this nomadic Californian influenced by mythology, ceremony and particular translations of Japanese poetry is back with a follow up album earmarked for October 17th, and it's shaping up very nicely.

Brendon De La Cruz in hooded jacket sits on steps in front of worn doors. Black and white image with a calm, distant mood.

"New Signs", backed by "How Many Names For Yellow "is the first single from the new album, but is actually an older song written a few years back at a workshop and finally laid down at his shared New Zealand studio in '22. As with his previous album he's enriched the track with samples from the Mississippi Records catalogue where he previously worked, and it's a psychedelic nouveau meets folk pop delight.

Reversed vocals signpost a lysergic path for Cruz's gentle tones, that seem to have been working out a bit since Two Kilos Of Blue, as he decides to move closer to the microphone and ditch his usual narrative based lyrical approach for some pleasingly ambiguous word play, which forces you to get your imagination into gear. A distant drum pulse that sounds like it was captured through a neighbouring studio wall acts as the song's heartbeat as some slightly more urgent acoustic guitar work threads its way through the impeccably detailed psychoactive electronica that melts just above the song and then drips through every note and word.

If you're coming to this new material because of his previous album, then perhaps start with, "How Many Names For Yellow" which sounds like it was recorded after a particularly emotional life episode, the voice almost breaking up as it wafts over his minimal acoustic guitar as a spectral backing vocal, invited by some succinct string work, haunts the track to fine effect.

I've put October 17th in the diary and you should probably do the same.