Brent Roberts

'Flowers on the Dirt Road Home' is the culmination of a decade of hard work, musical study, and experimentation by the talented artist Brent Roberts, the voice and brains behind deepnine. The openly gay singer/songwriter describes the album as “thoughtful, new edge electronica.” The varied songs include “Final Hour,” a spoken word/instrumental piece that sweeps over you like the tide, that was inspired by the true story of a hospice volunteer who drove a dying patient several hours to see the ocean one last time. In the liner notes, Roberts thanks his partner Bradley and son Gabriel. — Troy Carrington June 2003
- outsmartmagazine.com

“Flowers On The Dirt Road Home” (Collabitat Records) is decidedly spiritual, but never preachy.
Influenced by sounds made by groups like New Order, Cocteau Twins, and Depeche Mode, it tells stories, yet is rarely literal. The new vocal electronica CD is the work of openly gay independent artist deepnine. Brent Roberts, 36, of Washington D.C., is the man behind the band-of-one mystique.
“The name deepnine has no real meaning,” Roberts explained. “I often get questions about whether it refers to something sexual. I usually refuse to answer.”
“Saigon” begins the CD with the mysterious and pleasing voice of Vietnamese-American poet Huong Cao. Lead vocals are handled by Roberts - choruses, in Vietnamese, by Cao. Both voices blend with sitar-like keyboard sounds and modern, well-programmed beats, setting the mood of this album. The lyrics have a dreamscape quality: “Saigon where the nights are long and buzz with motor bees/Flowers on the dirt road home, laid at the Buddha’s knees.”
“Heart of a Lion” is a lullaby that registers like a sweet incantation. Spiritual imagery intermingles easily throughout the slow, even-tempered delivery.
“I really like Buddhist thought …,” Roberts explained. “You can actually do things to improve your mindfulness and sense of peace. At the same time, I firmly believe in the existence of some pagan or Christian sense of deity, so I tend to blend it all together.”
Roberts is aware of his vocal limitations, and the tracks on “Flowers On The Dirt Road Home” are not without a few near-misses.
“My primary gift is not my vocal prowess but my songwriting and production abilities,” he said.
Roberts maximizes the entrancing quality of his voice, and weds it to his musical vision.
Heavy vocal effects on “Love in the Shade” pique interest and recall Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr. Blue Sky.” “Final Hour” is a tranquil instrumental, with a few words repeated in snippets. Its inspiration is moving - a hospice volunteer who drove a dying patient to see the ocean one last time. “This Fleeting World,” influenced by a Buddhist text, “The Diamond Sutra,” approaches the idea of impermanence: “This fleeting world is sand beneath our feet/This fleeting world where past and future meet.”
Although fleeting, the song resolves that “life is good.”
“Mother Nature” and “By Design” recall a flower-child hippie sound from different angles. “Mother Nature” combines the sound with the ’80s mechanized drum style that heralded the computer age.
“By Design” declares, “God is a mountain that I can never climb/Rivers and forests, mystery by design.” The prominent march beat piano is offset by a throbbing bass line.
“New Love Song” is the most overt tip of the hat to the ’80s. An alternative dance song a la New Order, it still maintains the album’s laid-back feel.
“Ohio Dreaming,” the last song, is also consciously retro, recalling Roberts’ coming of age in Cincinnati to a disco beat. Cao again appears on the ambient “Old Sai Gon,” a complete Vietnamese translation of “Saigon.” It makes one wonder why it wasn’t chosen as the final track, enclosing these songs like bookends.
Don’t expect to see deepnine in a club near you. As a true recording artist, Roberts only performed once with his former group, Shivering Blondes.

For more info on deepnine and “Flowers On The Dirt Road Home” (Collabitat Records), see Web site: www.deepnine.com.

Robin Renée - Philadelphia Gay News