Brasstronaut

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.

Old World Lies EP is a densely-layered recording project, drawing guest performances from some of Vancouver’s best performing musicians, and highlighting the talent of the group’s four core members. Recently the band was featured by CBC 2 and CBC 3 and featured for a week on the front page of the New Music Canada website The band has shared stages with Why?, NOMO, and Woodhands, amongst others, and will be touring eastern Canada in October, 2008. Brasstronaut’s debut EP is just a small taste of what great things will come from this talented group of musicians.

Old World Lies EP is out on Unfamiliar Records/Sonic Unyon on September 1st, 2008.

Artist Myspace | Brasstronaut - Requiem For A Scene.mp3

While the rest of us scrape our windshields in -30 degree climates, Vancouver's eclectic, electric and emergent Brasstronaut will be spending this coming winter in musical hibernation.