‘Brave Old World by Bronwyn Eather is well named, as the record transports you to some imaginary smoky jazz bar. Once inside it, you find that you can’t keep your eyes (and ears) off the stage. Organic, moody, and sometimes a dark embrace, as the night unfolds; you leave in the wee hours, uncertain where the time has gone; but knowing you’ll be back.’ William Bowden (Mastering Engineer)
Brave Old World Band: Paul Vassallo on guitars, John Pye on Bass. Stan Kadlo on Drums, Bronwyn Eather on vocals and harmonica. All songs arranged by the band and written by Bronwyn Eather. The record was recorded and mixed by Jason Mannell.
BRING THE STORM – The first big rain breaking through the build-up brings release, the air charged with yearning. Everyone is waiting. Faces to the sky. Crazy for the rain.EVERYTHING FADES – Written after the sudden death of my niece in June 2017. Time has a way of healing, but I do not want anything about her bright beauty to fade. Ever.WHEN WE FALL – Written for a past love who had fallen into a long, deep despair.PRETTY WORDS – Infatuated, I was trying to impress someone with my turn of phrase, but it fell on deaf ears. I imagined falling in love again. Knowing the risk.TROUBLE – The moment between resisting and following desire. Trouble follows, and maintains pursuit through the consequences. A memorable adventure. A dangerous dance.SISTER HURRICANE – A reckless woman spinning from one addiction to another. We watch her build and then destroy everything in her path. She confronts the pain, begging for love and release.NOTHING SURVIVES – On a break up journey, the head moves faster than the heart. No sense to it. No reason to hold on. No hurrying the heart. You just want the pain to go away.BRAVE OLD WORLD – Finding joy again. Shaking the sadness out of each day, each night, and transforming the weight to wonder. All for that glorious sunrise.LOVE YOU MORE – A study of capture and release in a relationship, when the balance of love and freedom is not in place. Love, without desire, is extinguished by a yearning for release, despite the risks.WATER FALL – Coursing through the various stages of grief brings a reliance on water, warm and flowing, calming and constant, blending with tears and spiralling away.LAST BALLOON – Balloons will soon be banned. Balloons! Makes sense but it tugs at the heart strings. Imagining a future without balloons …LAST TRAIN – A mesmerising journey remembered … a slow train heading north. In deep desire we are suspended, alone and together, at the end of the world.CROOKED TREE – A poem written for the taut and twisted trees that eke existence from bone-dust and dirt.WALK ON – On a cold rainy night we meet a walking woman, alone, determined and challenging. Set in a future time for women who want to walk on, alone, day or night.
