Review Summary: Half of Brand New and some nobody doing a Phoebe Bridgers impression start a band together.
In November of 2017, news dropped that shook the music community: our much-beloved king of indie rock, Jesse Lacey, was an abuser. He was accused of soliciting nudes from minors and released a long post on social media in response, detailing his battle with addiction but carefully avoiding the specifics of the accusations. Jesse, along with Brand New, went into hiding — and that was that.
Until last year, when Jesse came out of hiding and played a show with The Human Surfers, where old Brand New songs were performed alongside some new Jesse Lacey originals that would presumably become Brand New or Human Surfers tracks. Everyone waited patiently and collectively pretended Jesse Lacey wasn’t a scumbag. (I know I participated in this pastime — my girlfriend and I saw Brand New live when they came back.)
The Procrastinate Music Traitors site started sending updates that a new project was coming. Would it be The Human Surfers?
Unfortunately, no.
What we got instead was Jesse Lacey on guitar, Brian Lane on drums, and Kelsey Kopecky on vocals.
You can hear Jesse’s influence all over this project — from the grunge stylings of “Drone,” which builds and builds and does that classic Brand New thing where you can hear background yelling layered under the singing. The chord progressions across this project have Jesse written all over them. There’s also a song called “Daisy.” Like… come on. That one only makes sense if you know the inside joke with Brand New about that song title and album. Speaking of which…
“David Sedaris” is a huge standout, though not my favorite. The lyrics feel much more personal on this one, and it has a very engaging chorus. There’s a Daisy-era chugging guitar in the hook — that same explosive energy filtered through pop-rock gloss so as not to scare the normies off. Jesse’s trademark screams of existentialism are nowhere to be found on this project.
Which brings us to “Shaman,” the only song Jesse actually sings on (in the background) — but hey, you can hear him. It’s another deeply personal-sounding indie rock jam, drenched in sadness, and it feels like it was probably cathartic to make. In Kelsey’s own way, she’s managed to craft her own lyrical identity. Her words sound absolutely nothing like anything Brand New would write, but they often work incredibly well for what the songs are trying to do. The result is a fuller picture of Kelsey’s musical personality shining through the collaboration.
My favorite song is definitely “You Make Me Nice,” which sounds like The Cars had a baby with Brand New’s poppier side. The chord progressions on this song in particular made me go, “Oh yeah… that’s definitely Jesse.” It has the same kind of energy as “Can’t Get It Out,” but without the depression and writer’s block that fueled that track. Instead, Kelsey shares her confession of unrequited love for the person she’s writing about. As the track builds, we get some beautifully intricate layers — my favorite moment being when everything dulls and distorts as she describes her imagined future with her partner. It actually made me smile.
The thing that makes all of this work so well is Mike Sapone’s production. The mix is absolutely perfect — you can hear everything clearly, and the drums pop just right. The angular guitars sink into the background to add mood, and the layered vocals capture everything I love about Brand New, but filtered through a more indie-pop lens.
I think anyone who gives this project a chance will really like it — especially fans of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, or Brand New. There are moments here for any fan of those artists.
I look forward to seeing what comes next from this project, and I hope it gets more traction — which is exactly why I felt compelled to write this review.
