By Thomas Bridger

Born in Toronto and raised in Sheffield, David John Brady is an electronic composer and musician who aims to portray connection, compassion and emotion in his latest album Recursia.

The collection of ambient electronic tracks in Recursia perfectly encapsulates everything that can be great about lo-fi music. It is a perfect demonstration of how to keep listeners engaged with complex textures, interesting harmonic structure, and experimental timbre. What ambient music lacks in the ways of traditional melody or structure, Brady makes up for with some truly ethereal soundscapes, which are not only pleasing to the ear, but continue to remain exciting for the entirety of the song.

My personal favourite from Recursia has got to be (M)other. Brady’s masterful grasp on rhythmic composition is truly on display here: from the fast-ascending sixteenth-notes present at the start, to the syncopated chord riff which in my opinion, really holds the piece together. The close harmonies in the vocal samples give the track just that little bit of edge, in what would be an otherwise quite harmonically smooth piece. 

When writing (M)other, Brady intended to take the listener on a journey through attachment and interdependence. Due to their sweet timbre and high pitch, I think the fast-ascending sixteenth notes portray a certain child-like innocence, whereas the syncopated chords are noise-gated, and eventually grow to a much warmer sound, resembling an almost maternal warmth. This is a fine example of how Brady has used two seemingly similar ideas and has placed them in stark contrast to one-another, creating conflict within a piece of music to tell a story.

This level of deep-thought and complex composition has been employed across the entire album; Brady has created an anthology of stories and emotions with Recursia.

Music and emotion are intertwined; whether emotion is the composer’s source of inspiration, whether music captures the emotions of the listener, or both. A piece of music is seldom written, or received, purely as an abstract piece of art. It inspires thought or provokes feeling, from its conception at the writing desk, to the audience hearing the finished product. Whether it be resilience, despair or joy, the artist’s feelings from inspiration are projected onto us, the listener. David John Brady’s masterful portrayal of emotion is well and truly captured by the harmonic and timbral melting pot that is Recursia. 

Ambient music can sometimes be criticised for being simple or unengaging, but Brady has certainly proved this to be false; creating complex music is an artform which is no longer limited to the elitists of the classically trained world. Whether your passions lie in the said classically trained world or reside in the modernity of composition, I would strongly urge you to listen to Recursia in its entirety.

www.davidjohnbrady.com