Cait Brennan Album is not a Debut to be Taunted

By Eric Paul Johnson
Editor-in-chief, The Loon News

A 46 year-old transgendered woman, and a man who looks kind of like Sweetums from the Muppets wearing a Derby walk into a recording studio, and come out with an album of pure Alt/Pop pleasure.
For roughly 30 years the music of Cait Brennan had been circulated through bootleg cassettes of guitar-and-vocal homemade recordings, then later (much, MUCH later) demo MP3s recorded with GarageBand on a Mac. But finally, FINALLY, an official, professionally recorded album of her music, produced by Fernando Perdomo, has been released. And not just through digital download, but also on CD, LP, and, no lie, 8-Track tape.
Brennan’s debut album is called, well, Debutante. Has it been worth the 30 year wait?
The album wastes no time, and gets right to it with a crash of drums, cymbals, bass, and electric guitar on “Good Morning and Goodnight.” The song puts a ton of Brennan’s musical influence on display right in the front window. Bowie, solo McCartney, with a touch of Jeff Lynne Electric Light Orchestra all whirled together with a driving beat and catchy melody. Brennan’s ability to create vivid pictures with few words, combined with the music bring to mind images of the fluff filled morning news shows the song is about. The bridge cuts into the song like breaking news, dropping all music with the exception of a plinking piano, and Brennan’s singing voice both compressed to sound like tinny AM radio. That, along with the words: “We’ve got some breaking news just in/The bad guys won this round again” hits like video of September 11, 2001 that it brings to mind.
The album takes a turn into the folksy Rock style of The Byrds, or early to mid ’80s R.E.M. “Underworld” tells the tale of a longtime friendship between an outgoing Ferris Bueller type rabble rouser and her timid friend struggling to worm his way out from under the oppression of his parents, and school authority figures. Brennan sums up the relationship with the line “I do all those things you fear, while you just watch and wait.” But matching the song’s upbeat, jangley guitar ’80s college Rock feel, the story has a happy ending when Brennan sings with all the joyful feeling of seeing her friend break free, “Finally you’re learning what they don’t want you to know/Finally you’re going where they don’t want you to go.” In the final verse, Brennan reinforces the bond the friends have when she sings, “I’ll always be around.”
“Dear Arthur” has an undefinable early ’70s Prog Rock mixed with Soft Rock sound. The song, inadvertently about her dead father, has a feel of Gordon Lightfoot, quieter Led Zeppelin, with weepy, otherworldly lead guitar work reminiscent of George Harrison. Brennan’s music gently brings you along for the melancholy trip through her world regarding the missed opportunities and lost possibilities of a father who spent decades away as a traveling musician, and all too brief rocky time together when the two did find each other, while Perdomo’s drum work brings a great power to the music.
In the middle of all the big sound production of the previous songs, “Once Upon a Nevermind” takes a simple turn. Acoustic guitar, knee slapping not unlike on Buddy Holly’s “Everyday,” and if I’m not mistaken, an autoharp come together with Brennan’s voice in the beautiful song about the painful happy memories of a perfect romantic relationship that didn’t work out.
Perdomo’s relentless drumming dominates “I Want You Back.” In the song Brennan sings about being in a mentally and emotionally abusive relationship. Yet, despite the memories of craptastic treatment from the ex-partner, she sings with all the force of determination she can muster, “I want you back!”
This whirlwind of drums, organ, and full throated singing on “I Want You Back,” is followed by the somber “Showman.” The music echoes the darker songs from Pink Floyd’s album The Wall.
One of the album’s stand-out tracks is “Harmony Lies.” A bouncy song that grabs you, and dances you around the room. At first, in my opinion, I liked the original Garageband demo of the song, but once the double-tracked guitar solo, like something from Pilot’s 1975 one-hit “Magic,” rips into action, the ride the song gives you triples. Like hitting the quadruple loops and double hills of a roller coaster. Despite the fun party the song instills, it’s about society dictating what is pretty, and the internal struggles Brennan went through to get to her own inner acceptance. “Harmony lies inside of your mind” she sings in the chorus. The lyrics also include a lesson learned, bit of wisdom when you’re at your lowest, desperately clawing for anything to get you out of your funk: “False hope is still hope, I suppose.”
The opening guitar strum of “All In Love Is Fair” washes over you like a gentle wave on the beach. From there, the song about divorce and the shattered hopes of neverending romance, takes you on an amiable journey through wedded doom. Almost as if your being pulled down a pleasant whirlpool of nitrous oxide into a pit to the brutal end.
Brennan was born a brilliant writer. Not just of songs, but she won crates of awards for her high school journalism, won screenwriter competitions in the ’00s, and cowrote the feature film Love…Or Whatever. This talent for writing helps her tell concise, tight stories in impossible to resist 3-5 minute songs.
Every one of the 13 tracks, and even some of the weaker ones (“Lines,” “Black Diamond,” “Meet Your Remaker” ) are enjoyable. Brennan’s genetics from her dad, mixed with her lifelong voracious consumption of all kinds of music creates a fantastic full-studio debut album. There is nothing about it that makes you think, “I wish I hadn’t spent irretrievable time listening to that.”

The Sugar Crash Rock and Soul of Cait Brennan

Cait Brennan describes her music as “sugar crash Rock and Soul.” What does that mean? From a quick listen it’s a mix of Beatles, Monkees, a helping of melodic Punk/New Wave of the late ’70s and early ’80s, some Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway, with a touch of everything else.

Brennan's influences come from a childhood spent being shuffled between Phoenix and Omaha. Her mother trained race horses, and her great-grandmother was a seamstress who designed and sewed the “silks” the jockeys wore. Being a seasonal enterprise there was a lot of traveling.

“In the 1970s,” Brennan said, “before everything became the same, the music that would pour through the AM radio--70s power pop, 1930s Tin Pan Alley and vaudeville, Tejano, Bakersfield country, Boss Radio, polka, Norteño, distant voices, alien static, everything you can imagine. I soaked it up like a sponge, I could not get enough. And I think that's who I am, musically. I love the music of the 80s and 90s, the punk and postpunk things I discovered in my teens and adulthood, but everything I am musically came out of that tinny Rambler radio on that midnight highway. Oh, I think I just wrote a country song!”

Her talents also come from a gene pool that includes a rich musical history. “My father ,” Brennan said, “was a touring and studio musician for over thirty years, appeared on shows like Shindig and Hollywood Palace and was generally awesome. His mom, my grandma, was also a singer and guitarist. My aunt, cousins, etc, are all musicians and singers. On my mom's side, my grandma, great grandma, great grandfather, uncles, aunts, were all pro or semi-pro musicians at one time or another.”

Inspired by the newfound fame of “Weird Al” Yankovic, and local radio personality Jonathon Brandmeier, mixed with Brennan's quick wit, she started writing parodies when she was in junior high. It wasn't long, though, before parodying took a back seat to serious songwriting.

“I've always loved wordplay and comedy,” Brennan said, “and started off writing goofs on radio hits. But I guess there came a point when I realized I had things to say, stories to tell that weren't best suited to be sung to the tune of "Break My Stride." And at first people would not take me seriously because I'd done funny stuff and therefore I could not do meaningful stuff. And I felt I had to make a choice so I chose to go for "serious" music.”

Her new songs showed she wasn't just a gag writer who could string together a few chords on the guitar. She produced well-crafted catchy pop songs, and touching, introspective crooners with meaningful words that spoke to people instead of just giving them a giggle.

Brennan's been making music for well over 35 years, but things really started to fall into place in February 2010. Previous Brennan recordings were just of her and a guitar. This was due to the limitations of home recording. But thanks to Garageband, and a wonderful, supportive partner in Wendy, Brennan was able to create the full Cait Brennan musical experience. “Jenny Said” featured the sound of a full band creating a rousing Rock number that made it impossible to sit still. And on top of that, she played all the instruments, and did all the vocals.

Brennan soon started playing open mic nights at Long Wong's in Tempe, and the Tempe Center for the Arts. All this performing and recording lead to being picked as one of the featured musicians at the 2012 Phoenix International Pop Overthrow. Her, along with members of Tempe's Rockaroke band Zen Lunatics, and her aunt Tana LaFollette on backing vocals, performed a set of Brennan originals with a contagious energy that just exuded out of the performance.

She went on to be one of the hand-picked performers for the first “In the Spotlight” show at the Tempe Center for the Arts on April 6, and she's scheduled to do another full band show at Hollywood Alley (2610 W. Baseline Rd in Mesa) on Saturday April 28. Cait Brennan, with a band, take the stage at 12:15 PM. See why novelist Neil Gaiman recently said of her performing "wow" and "that's glorious!"

She will also be opening for Namoli Brennet at a show in late July, and playing at the Flagstaff Folk Festival at the end of June. She also has a regular gig with the Zen Lunatics at The Sail Inn's Rockaroke every Thursday night.

And there's even more news. She's currently working on an album she describes as, “heavily piano based and not very bubblegum (but definitely Beatley/glam rock/'70s piano pop) with the Cait sense of humor and twists and brainy lyrical weirdness.”

The best place to hear Cait Brennan's music, see her videos and keep up with the latest news and shows can be found at facebook.com/planetcait, or reverbnation.com/caitbrennan.