Brett Gleason

With influences ranging from Kate Bush to Nine Inch Nails to Elliott Smith, Brett Gleason’s first-ever gig was met with rapturous approval on Wednesday evening. Highlighting the vast majority of his Dissonance EP & teasing us with a few songs likely to be featured on his forthcoming debut full-length, Brett’s short set left us with heavily baited breath. Positively stellar.

Courtesy of: The Music Slut
www.themusicslut.com - The Music Slut

Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Brett Gleason debuts his electronic, moody, solo album with the five-song EP "The Dissonance."

Mixing everything from funky R&B and show tunes to a haunting darkly mood-driven piano rock, Brett Gleason brings a ton of different influences to his music. With a sound that is nearly unclassifiable, except perhaps as a strange hybrid of R&B, pop and post-punk; Gleason is a modern-day Ben Folds Five strained through Soft Cell. But offering comparisons to other artists is neither fair nor accurate in judging Gleason’s music, which is so very original and space-age.

The EP starts out with “Futile & Fooled,” a futuristic song with hints of piano-pounding Broadway show tunes. From there, the album continues into “The Worst Part,” which continues the mood of the previous song, yet softer.

“I Am Not” begins with Industrial chanting that would fit well onto a Nine Inch Nails record, or even as the backdrop of an old Ed Wood-style B-horror movie. Haunting, melodious, scary, and yet with a religious undertone in the organ and chanting. Gregorian chant with a twist, but the chorus is very poppy.

“The Escape” starts dark and robotic, very Blade-Runner-meets Alice-in-Wonderland. The gothic ensemble turns into a more melodic pop-driven sound complete with celestial piano. The album finishes with “Idealize the Dead” and a hidden track. "Fans of Repo! the Genetic Opera" will go head over heels for the sound of Brett Gleason.

An intriguing, singular album with a sound all its own, "The Dissonance" by Brett Gleason is a unique approach to pop, show tunes and singer-songwriter rock, creating an ultra-slick modern hybrid that is pure originality. - Metro Spirit

Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Brett Gleason debuts his electronic, moody, solo album with the five-song EP "The Dissonance."

Mixing everything from funky R&B and show tunes to a haunting darkly mood-driven piano rock, Brett Gleason brings a ton of different influences to his music. With a sound that is nearly unclassifiable, except perhaps as a strange hybrid of R&B, pop and post-punk; Gleason is a modern-day Ben Folds Five strained through Soft Cell. But offering comparisons to other artists is neither fair nor accurate in judging Gleason’s music, which is so very original and space-age.

The EP starts out with “Futile & Fooled,” a futuristic song with hints of piano-pounding Broadway show tunes. From there, the album continues into “The Worst Part,” which continues the mood of the previous song, yet softer.

“I Am Not” begins with Industrial chanting that would fit well onto a Nine Inch Nails record, or even as the backdrop of an old Ed Wood-style B-horror movie. Haunting, melodious, scary, and yet with a religious undertone in the organ and chanting. Gregorian chant with a twist, but the chorus is very poppy.

“The Escape” starts dark and robotic, very Blade-Runner-meets Alice-in-Wonderland. The gothic ensemble turns into a more melodic pop-driven sound complete with celestial piano. The album finishes with “Idealize the Dead” and a hidden track. "Fans of Repo! the Genetic Opera" will go head over heels for the sound of Brett Gleason.

An intriguing, singular album with a sound all its own, "The Dissonance" by Brett Gleason is a unique approach to pop, show tunes and singer-songwriter rock, creating an ultra-slick modern hybrid that is pure originality. - CWG Magazine

Brett Gleason’s first solo effort, ‘The Dissonance’ is a unique fusion of alternative rock and electronica, combining the industrial production of NIN with the melodic piano of Tori Amos. Brett got involved with music early after a childhood accident left him with a severe speech impediment, leading him to a life of solitary contemplation filled with music lessons and literature.
After finishing his studies in music, writing and philosophy at the New School University in Manhattan, Brett dedicated himself to the recording process and now at the age of 26, has not only completed his first effort but written, played and recorded everything on it. Currently performing in the NYC area, Brett is preparing for a national campaign, writing a full length album album as well as completing a video for the first single, ‘I Am Not’. Until the official release date of 1-10-10, Brett’s extended EP, ‘The Dissonance’ is available with free downloads on his official website, www.brettgleason.com. He also has a myspace page at www.myspace.com/rockdictator.
I found Brett’s music has a strange peacefulness and at the same time a troubling restlessness. His words are thoughtful and his music is put together with a masterful flow of conciousness. “The Worst Part” combines great keyboard, singing and some unexpected sounds thrown in that give the piece a real signature of this wonderful new artist. “I Am Not”, his first single seems to scream out with the frustration of his past but has a haunting optimism to it.
I asked Brett about his childhood accident and how it affected him, he said” My childhood was frustrating because I had an incomprehensible speech impediment, only my immediate family could understand me. Fortunately, they helped direct my energy into not only solitary activities but expressive ones like music, writing. Organized communication became very important. The value of words took on strong meaning as I learned that even with them, much is left unsaid. Music and sound represent the unspeakable”.
What did you do when you felt like giving up?
“I know how to direct my frustration into work so as long as I feel good about it, I’m okay. The only drawback to this approach is you can’t stop so giving up or even resting isn’t an option.”
Do you have any plans or ideas for another cd and do you have any touring planned? “’The Dissonance’ is an extended EP so I’m busy writing my first full length. I’ve been playing new songs live and expect to have my newly assembled backing band on the next record as opposed to playing everything myself. I do however, plan on doing a bi-coastal tour by myself sometime after the official release January 10th.”
What do you think your music says to people and what do you want people to get from it? “My music is pretty dark and brooding but ultimately redemptive, so far. I open my eyes wide and though I don’t usually like what I see that’s okay, I can handle it. I can ask questions, not find answers and accept this. At times I may despair, relent, even panic, but ultimately I find balance in a song. - Skope Magazine

This is distinctly progressive rock. It’s full of weird left turns and oddities. It’s sure to please fans of modern prog. I guess if you like pop music or something more linear you might find yourself a bit perplexed. Sure, a lot of this has a steep learning curve, but isn’t that true of the best progressive rock?

Track by Track Review

Futile and Fooled
A spoken voice comes in as a sound bite. Then a noisy keyboard element joins and this track builds out from there. After a time it shifts and a driving bass type line drives this. The cut shifts and turns like good RIO and yet, weird as this is there’s a bit of a catchy (almost pop music) element to it. There’s some jazz in the mix, too. The cut moves through a few changes during its course and has an almost classical feeling to it at times. This is definitely challenging music. It’s got a steep learning curve, but just one listening will reveal that there is something here worth taking the time to appreciate. There are some moments here that make me think of The Flower Kings and other sections that call to mind Jellyfish. This is full of frantic changes and weird left turns. Still, it doesn’t feel random to me in the least.

The Worst Part
Hard edged and cool, this is less challenging from the get go as the opener. There’s a bit of a 1980’s element to this and yet we get some Dream Theater-like progressive rock in the mix and also something not that far removed from Nine Inch Nails. I like this a lot. It’s more instantly accessible than the opener, but no less intriguing. In many ways this reminds me a bit of something from Porcupine Tree, but I can also make out some old school Genesis in the mix, along with the more modern sounds.

I Am Not
The focus here is more keenly centered on the vocals as multiple layers are presented across this. Still, the music veers here and there and this is another intriguing mix of sounds and progressions. If you don’t like where it’s at just wait a little while. There are some killer multi-layered vocal arrangements and fascinating musical tapestries, too. There are some great keyboard excursions built into the number.

The Escape
Weird sound effects and ominous modes start us off here. After a while working through like this it drops to a stripped down and dark motif for the vocals. After a time more layers of music are added and this picks up an almost pop oriented (but still dark) sound.

Idealize the Dead
The first portion of this is in a rather mellow, but unsettling musical motif. It fires up into harder rock for accents, but overall I’d say this comes the closest to something like Porcupine Tree of anything on the disc. It’s definitely a more staid piece than anything else on show here.

Unlisted song
This one’s not included in the track listing. The cut is cool. It combines a Jellyfish kind of catchy groove with more of the noisy sounds we’ve heard throughout the set and we get plenty of odd shifts and turns, too. Yet, through it all Gleason manages to keep it all feeling accessible. We get a descent into noisy weirdness later in the piece. There’s some cool backwards tracked music later, too. - Music Street Journal