On Brighton MA's latest effort Amateur Lovers (drops 10/28 on Loosetooth), the local quartet takes it up (quite) a few notches and raises their own bar by leaving the reverb pedals on and song formulas to the wayside; unconventional pieces lush with Jim Tuerk’s blissful explosions of shoegazey guitar wash and chiming layers of distortion, delay, and feedback countered with blooming string parts and parading horn sections. This being said, there’s a duality here; it’s also a much more abrasive move for BMA as Lovers evokes more Afghan Whigs’ Black Love and Walkmen-ish attack than Bob Dylan. Rock music stands front and center as drummer Sam Koentopp drives the band this time around with masterful time and touch, becoming a more integral part of the arrangements in a deliberate though exploratory way reminiscent of older Jim O'Rourke records. Bassist Devon Bryant delivers an effortless cohesion with Koentopp arguably making them on of the more dynamic rhythm sections in town. The only element left to be desired is vocal harmony... let's face it; we're all suckers for harmonies. That aside, they’ve made their statement and the press is taking notes.

 

Lyricist and vocalist/guitarist Matt Kerstein- a voice distinguished as ever- pushes his vocal cords and lyrics to new limits on standout tracks "Let’s Be Friends Again," "Sunblinded," and "Eskimos." You hear the conviction while there’s a sensitivity and self-realization in the words of a storied worn traveler who's been there and back and knows better now with age. Nowadays BMA happily call themselves a rock n’ roll band, and in our current times of almost calculated indie-hipsterdom, the simpler label is sounding more imaginative than ever.

 

Kerstein spent some time with UR to shed some light on Brighton MA’s growth, their creative process, and studio-hopping. 

 

 

MK: We recorded a lot of the tunes a number of times, sort of taking that demo process once again from when the band first got together. [Jim] Tuerk and I would demo tunes and bring them to the band and demo those live in rehearsals. Then over last fall and winter, we took a bulk of the rockier songs to Clava [Studios] and had another run at Electrical Audio where we recorded the slower material live. We even tracked some overdubs in our tile kitchen and hallway at our house, but we tried to keep a live feel for the most part. We had it mixed at Soma where Tim Iseler had the difficult job of taking all the tracks and turning it into one thing (laughs)… so we learned a lot and you’ll hear some different [production] sounds on the record.

 

UR: Amatuer Lovers has more bite to it. What have you and the guys been listening to between recording and performing?

MK: Been listening to a lot of Harry Nielsen, lots of early Randy Newman. Early Byrds records. Some Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, and a ton of Tom Petty… we got into that Petty documentary DVD, probably watched that, like, 35 times so far. That’s the main stuff that was going around.

 

UR: Sounds like Sam (Koentopp) really comes into his own on this one as he pushes the band and everyone turns up the knobs. Was there a collective decision beforehand to pick up the pace?

MK: Yes and no. This band is a rock n’ roll band and we’ve always liked it loud, and that’s always felt good to us from the get-go. There was some rockier stuff that we cut from our first release, but it’s nothing new for us. I really like Neil Young records; no one rocks better than Young and Crazy Horse. He’s my hero where that’s concerned, but he’s just as amazing when he sits solo at a piano or plays an acoustic guitar. So we’ve always loved both sides and will continue to explore both sides… whatever it takes for good music.

 

UR: Brighton MA sounds more concerned with texture and depth than pop hooks at the moment. What are the band’s thoughts on that?

MK: It’s funny, we just had this conversation last night at rehearsal. There are a couple different types of tunes on the record. There are a few that are more verse/chorus/verse, but we’re also really big on the build. I write a ton of lyrics and then we just start chipping away at things depending on what feels good. If I find a great chorus, I’ll stick to that and sing it. But, if there’s no chorus yet there’s a ton of lyrical content, I’ll just keep going and the band will just keep working it in sections with that constant forward momentum in mind. “Eskimos” does that really well. We like the never-ending swells where the tension builds. We get easily bored, so we try to create many kinds of tunes.

 

MK: We definitely worked as a band on this one. It was a process over the last year and we’ve grown a lot. For me, I can actually hear the progression of the band finding its sound. The tunes from our last EP were actually a collection I’d been working on during my last sessions with Scotland Yard Gospel Choir. They just didn’t sound right to me at the time. BMA got together and re-recorded them pretty quickly, but those were more Matt Kerstein songs with the guys coming together around that. This time, we didn’t have the tunes lying around beforehand. Everyone had something to bring in and contribute so we could work on discovering a sound together.