Brasstronaut
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Brasstronaut

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Press


"PITCH FORK"

"...With orchestration befitting the players' jazz and classical backgrounds, which includes a recent residency at Alberta's prestigious Banff Centre for the Arts, the song places requiem-cadenced piano and a lonely, sputtering brass solo next to Van Breeman's near-whisper. Elsewhere on the Old World Lies EP, the band audits the independent rock scene (which includes, full disclosure, a Pitchfork ref). But "Old World Lies", with its lyrics about the African slave trade, does indeed sketch the slow, tentative process of emerging from a dark mourning period and blinking hard at the light of day. Like a good therapist, Brasstronaut are both empathetic and efficient as they pat your hand and recite recovery mantras." - Amy Granzin - http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11269-old-world-lies/


"TORONTO STAR"

"With a core lineup of trumpet, flugelhorn, piano and voice, this Vancouver band doesn't exactly arrive with a surfeit of referents. In ambience, though, this title track of a four-song EP occasionally evokes the indelible lament that Elvis Costello co-wrote for perennial cult figure Robert Wyatt, the elegantly mournful "Shipbuilding."" - John Sakamoto - http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/497575


"GEORGIA STRAIGHT"

"Brasstronaut binds kindred sonic spirits-The quartet’s conservatory-trained members aren’t too hifalutin to enjoy a bit of lowbrow humour. Judging by the lumbering melodies and delicate instrumentation on Brasstronaut’s one would expect the Vancouver jazz quartet to engage the Straight in a sophisticated conversation about the classical tradition—or something equally as hifalutin—when we gather on the upscale patio of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s café. The fact that the group’s vocalist and pianist, Edo Van Breemen, whips out a hilarious impersonation of Sloth, the lovable man-ogre from the ’80s teen cult hit The Goonies, puts a different spin on things entirely...." - Jenny Charlesworth - www.straight.com


Discography

Old World Lies-EP 2008

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Bio

Brasstronaut is not a name easily forgotten. Nor is the unlikely trademark sound this four-piece from Vancouver, BC magically creates with a combination of trumpets, flugelhorns, trombones, piano, double-bass, ninja-like drumming, and soulfully dystopian lyrics. Drawing from jazz and classical musical backgrounds as much as from inclinations towards pop, eastern European and Latin tastes, the band has forged four concise masterpieces which make up their debut release, Old World Lies EP, out on Unfamiliar Records (Snailhouse, The Clips, Two Koreas, The Paper Cranes) on September 1st, 2008.
Brasstronaut was founded unintentionally by Bryan Davies (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Edo Van Breemen (keyboards, vocals) at a small house party on a blustery fall night of 2005. There, they improvised for the first time together to a surprised group of onlookers. Bryan had just returned home from Holland, where he'd been studying trumpet at the Amsterdam School of Music for two years. During that time he toured the EU extensively with a myriad of different bands and orchestras, playing at places like the Bim Haus and rubbing shoulders with the likes of masters such as Dave Douglas. Edo, on the other hand was a self-taught musician, and while working through a chemistry degree, found escape in producing electronic music and songs for a number of other bands. Together, the two stumbled upon a melodic combination of trumpet, piano and vocals that was unmistakably their own.
As they continued to play together, and the improvisations became more defined, Brennan Saul (drums) and Johnny Walsh (double-bass) joined the duo, slowly transforming the half-works into fully actualized songs. Adding their own years of experience as professional players and music teachers to the blend, the new rhythm section became more comfortable with the band's collective sonic tapestry and learned to play louder and more deliberately, with intense soul, making a live Brasstronaut performance a truly mesmerizing experience.