David Bazan - Strange Negotiations

It's been an interesting couple of years for David Bazan. He's struggled with his faith and a love of drink, shedding the band name Pedro The Lion in the process to release recordings under his own name. Regardless of how Bazan purveys them, his songs have always been top-notch. The Bazan name continues to holds weight, but the inevitable touring that must be undertaken to support the average artist is never not at the expense of domesticity. Recent times have found him reaching out via Kickstarter and playing solo house shows to put together the funds needed to get him off the road for a bid and tend to home matters, while still being able to get some new songs together.

The plan seems to have worked. Bazan has succeeded in getting a new batch of songs together, compiling them into a new Barsuk full-length called Strange Negotiations. Ostensibly about delusion, or perhaps more accurately man's ability to embrace self-delusion, the record is ten of the best Bazan tracks he has released to date. He's playing in a trio format (almost always the best way) to keep things Spartan, and more importantly, to keep costs down.

All of these things seem to be paying off. A recent solo house tour was completely sold out and things seem to be generally better personally and professionally for Bazan. There is a new member in the household and high profile opening slots with the likes of Jimmy Eat World. I would expect that once Strange Negotiations gets some steam, there will be a lot of talk about Bazan on year-end lists. Eating Paper is probably my favorite track, although the opening and closing tracks get especially high marks as well. I hear that this was recorded by Bazan in his rehearsal space and mastered by TW Walsh. If that is the case, it would appear that the Bazan production skills are pretty top notch, to boot. It's always something with Bazan. With skills on both sides of the board and a growing distance from the polarizing world of Christian musics, Bazan mid-life crisis of faith may well be the release that garners him mainstream success. Strange negotiations, indeed.

Get Strange Negotiations from Barsuk here.

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David Bazan - Curse Your Branches

Internet browsing tells me that Curse Your Branches is the first David Bazan record to be released under his own name. It comes on the heels of a great DVD and a couple of decent Pedro The Lion EPs. I also hear that it marks Bazan's first record where he actively embraces agnosticism. Not Victim In Pain style, but still an interesting step from a man long-thought to be a man of faith. Of course, he was bounced from Cornerstone ( for the uninitiated, sort of the Lollapalooza for the higher powered set) a couple years ago for being drunk, so he showed signs of a less conformist nature in the past. That said, he did play Cornerstone solo this year after having openly espoused his change in philosophical direction, so maybe there is some middle ground being trodden upon by both parties.

Dogmatic assocations aside, Curse Your Branches is a fine record, whether billed as a Pedro or Bazan record. Most of my quarrels lie in the arrangements. Having harvested a number of recent Bazan solo acoustic shows from the interwebs, I have come to prefer him without a band. The first couple of Pedro records had a nice happy medium, but later stuff seems to find studio embellishment gilding the lily. Shockingly enough, this asshole's opinion hasn't stopped him from selling records (or my attending the shows). I'd pick it up and see what you think. At the very least, you might be able to make out with a hot repressed christian, an act not to be missed, if available. Buy Curse Your Branches from the good folk of Barsuk here and keep track of Bazan's whereabouts (which seem to include a gang of solo house shows) via this handy link.

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Bazan: Alone At The Microphone DVD

David Bazan is the enigmatic frontman of Northwest slow-rockers Pedro The Lion. He's also a man of faith, but not in a creepy Cornerstone sort of way. He's been known to play that bastion of God rock, but is considerably more moderate than you'd expect. 

I first heard Bazan through a CMJ sampler that had Big Trucks on it. It's still one of my favorites. At the time I wasn't aware of the scene he came from. Soon after, Pedro came through Brownies (R.I.P) and I caught them one Sunday evening. They were pretty good, but also did that weird Christian thing where they stopped and asked if there were any questions in between songs. I, and most of the assembled scant crowd, were a little confused but it was a decent set refreshingly free of rhetoric. I've been a fan ever since and even a horribly anachronistic run-in with religion hasn't put me off him. 

That said, Bazan's faith is a personal thing that he keeps mostly to himself and out of his songs. Alone At The Microphone has some interview footage, but is mostly Bazan playing selections from his catalog solo in the studio. And sometimes in his car. The songs are wonderful regardless of the venue. Bazan seems to be an earnest man who cares deeply about his faith, his family and his music. He comes off very warm, even if some of the material treads a darker path. If more religious people were like him, there might be a lot more tolerance on both sides.

Check it out for yourself. You can buy Bazan: Alone At The Microphone  here. If you were of a mind, you can find him on the web here and socially interface with him here. It's worth a trip.