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Graeme Browne (Urban)
Young Funker From Ilford, Essex, UK
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Graeme Browne is a young singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist who hails from Ilford, Essex. He plays guitar, keyboards, bass, drums and percussion and has been writing songs from his creative pen since the age of thirteen. He first began his musical ventures when imitating Michael Jackson at a talent show at secondary school.
His musical influences range from Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Terence Trent D’Arby, Lynden David Hall, Brian McKnight and Van Hunt to David Bowie, U2, Talking Heads, Blur, Todd Rundgren and Blur but to name a few.
Graeme spent his last year at the University of Derby in an acoustic three-piece band called ‘Overdraft’ which he “enjoyed thoroughly- I was literally a star for a year” before branching out on his own and recorded his own songs after getting a taste of performing solo. Recently he was in another three-piece band with fellow artist Samantha Jean Scuffham before going their separate ways.
Graeme spent the best part of ten months on his latest home recorded mini-demo album, ‘Frustration Hill,’ which was written, produced, recorded and performed entirely by himself with no assistance whatsoever- playing all instruments. This was mainly due to a number of changes of heart on the whole set up of the album as Graeme explains.
“I started off the project as a full length demo album. I had recorded some well-received material which was only on my last EP (The Tempest) and added some new songs to the project. It was initially called ‘My Glass Eyes’ but when I started work on that particular title track, after months of recording; I became very discouraged by it. While I was happy with some of the tracks on the album, I was getting quite emotionally drained. It just wasn’t happening.”
This wasn’t surprising, especially that Graeme had to deal with the death of his beloved auntie in June 2007 of cancer- a moment that helped Graeme to draw strength.
“Some months after her death, I had found myself drawing on inspiration on the type of person she was- strong-willed, fun loving, honest, kind, etc- just like my mother is. Before I knew it, I was writing and recording songs knowing that she was watching and approving.”
So it would seem that the title, “Frustration Hill” is quite fitting.
“It’s basically a statement of unhappiness with all the things that was going on around me and the things that many people I was or still am associated with brought to me mentally. I wouldn’t quite say it is a clarion call for rebellion but there certainly is defiance there that says ‘I will not lose my soul to your ideologies.’ I feel a lot better for it.”
If ‘Frustration Hill’ is supposed to be an angry album musically, then it doesn’t show here on a regular basis. But that’s until he starts singing. There is a spikiness in the lyrics throughout the album. The opening track, ‘A Thousand Day Mission’ opens like someone getting on a theatre stage and the curtain rising with someone about to give you a tour thorough their mind. No doubt that was created with just Graeme’s voice accompanied by acoustic guitar before launching into an explosive rock/funk/dance track. ‘Put Down Your Threats’ is another example of spiky lyrics in Graeme’s attack on gun crime in the UK.
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Tracks like the reggae/R&B-influenced; ‘Falling For You Again’, the 8 minute-plus acoustic soul closer, ‘Not Destined To Love You’ and the UK soul/funk styled ‘Taste O Your Wine’ sees the singer revealing his yearning for the opposite sex in different emotions with nostalgia, regret and lust the central themes in each song respectively while ‘Funk-Up Free’ offers some acoustic guitar funk that booms the sub-woofers on full blast with it’s bass heavy rhythm section and lamenting on the current music scene.
Even the tracks that didn’t make it on to the main album are just as powerful. ‘The Bicycle Type’ is a fast-paced guitar drenched mover at express speed and a damning lyric against a materialistic lover. ‘Perfection’ is a sp.... acoustic-R&B; thumper that is heavy on bass and drums but still lets an acoustic riff define the track along with Graeme’s vocals while the tribute to his late aunt ‘Beyond The Bright Star’ shows the gentle side in Graeme’s nature. It’s a wonderful acoustic song which accompanies Graeme’s emotionally charged vocal and is the highlight to the ‘Put Down Your Threats EP’, a promotional product for ‘Frustration Hill.’
It looks like Graeme Browne could be ready to take on the world head on. And with such an eclectic demo recorded, it seems he has come prepared.
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Graeme Browne Lists the following Influences
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Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Terence Trent D'Arby, Ben Harper, Lynden David Hall, Tracy Chapman, Sly & The Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, Omar, Van Hunt, Loose Ends, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Eddy Grant, Cat Stevens, David Bowie, Thin Lizzy etc...
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Acoustic
