How Will I Know If I'm Awake? - Brent Cash

[doob]

I recently got a pre-release copy of a new artist album. It's by a musician from Athens, GA named Brent Cash and is called 'How Will I Know If I'm Awake?'. This album is AWESOME!!! The music has been favorably compared to Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Webb, etc. It's a big, sunshine-y record that is produced in the style of 60s & 70s yet it's current.  I did a little online searching & the record has gotten coverage in places like Rolling Stone, The Word & also in other respected mags across Europe. It is on Marina Records and is being released in Europe & the UK on 3/3 and in the US on 3/4. You can check it out for yourself at www.brentcash.net or  www.myspace.com/brentcashmusic  . Plus it's available on CD & Vinyl.  but, if download is your thing...it's also on rhapsody & itunes.

Just a really great album!! Check it out!

[doob]

To provide some more info..here's how his album has been described:

Do you believe in magic?! Well, we do. Especially since we’ve heard this album. Marina is proud to present a brand new recording artist: Mr Brent Cash - a musical wunderkind from Athens, GA (home of R.E.M. and The B-52s, among others).

Brent entitled his debut album “How Will I Know If I’m Awake” and it is almost too good to be true. Sounding like a lost sunshine pop classic from the 60s, the record is overflowing with hook-laden choruses, multi-layered vocal harmonies and lush sophisticated arrangements. It’s the sound of endless summers and good vibrations.

From the start, multi-instrumentalist Cash decided to record his songs like “they did it back then”. So no costs were spared to hire the best musicians in town and assemble a mini-orchestra featuring strings, brass and even a harp (!). The results are simply stunning.

From the opening chords of “Everything That’s Grey” we enter melody wonderland. A place where major 7 chords rule and beautiful vocal harmonies dazzle your mind. “Digging The Fault Line” is full of Byrds guitar jangle, sounding like the perfect soundtrack to cruise into golden California sunsets (feat. a great Wes Montgomery-like guitar solo along the way). “Only Time” explodes with 100 % fat-free youthful euphoria - Roger Nichols meets The 5th Dimension. Ba-baba-ba...

While deeply rooted in 60s songwriting - influenced by Bacharach, Wilson, McCartney, and yes, The Monkees - Cash certainly has his own unique signature style. Just listen to “And Had We Ever...” and “I Think I’m Falling In Love” - with its complex enchanting textures, ignoring conventional song structures.

“Love Is Burning Down Tonight” - a striking duet between Brent and Amanda Kapousouz - is a special highlight of the album. It’s a song about a relationship going wrong - yet it’s so beautifully arranged, that it makes the scenario almost sound like the best lifestyle option ever (ha...). “Good Morning Sunshine” could be the theme song to the best TV series in the world - the harpsichord driven piece is chock-full of amazing twists and turns of melodic beauty. Play it over and over again - and you’ll still discover new beautiful details. “Making shapes on corners...”

“This Sea, These Waves” moves us into Bossa Nova territory. Starting off in a classic Getz/Gilberto mould, the song soon morphs into orchestrated Sergio Mendes & Brazil ’66 elegance (with one verse even sung in Portuguese!). Wow. “More Than Everything” - clocking in at over six minutes - ends this beautiful song cycle about love lost and found. A great final statement about overcoming heartbreak, delivered with the sincerety of a Carpenters record.

Listen to this album - and believe in magic!

I really dig this album & have gotta get it on vinyl.