Port O'Brien
Deceptively Claiming The Fury And The Calm Of The Calamity
Jan 25, 2010
Words by Sean Moeller
Illustration by Johnnie Cluney
Sound engineering by Mike Gentry
-
In The Meantime
original version appears on Threadbare
This was the song that gave Threadbare an identity and a vision. It wasn't the first written, but after we finished the lyrics, it was clear that it would set the feel for the record. There is something very solemn, but determined about it.. a sense of feeling true and honest in the face of sadness. The album version is very minimal and hushed, so its been a challenge to re-create live in loud bars and clubs, but we were really excited about this version.
-
Calm Me Down
original version appears on Threadbare
This was mainly written on the boat in Alaska. It gets really lonely out there, and I get consumed by anxiety from time to time, so this song deals with that combination; of loneliness and anxiety. This is the longest song on Threadbare, but it never really feels long when we play it. Its almost like two different songs, and I always can't wait to get to the outro "jam." Strings are always a hard thing to re-create live, due to our complete lack of string players, but Gram does a great job of creating the atmosphere with the help of his extensive pedal collection.
-
My Will Is Good
original version appears on Threadbare
This song was based on two main parts, the drum beat (inspired by a certain Timbaland single, which also happens to be the only redeeming track on Shock Value), and the basic guitar riff that I wrote while walking through Berkeley campus late at night. Cambria came up with the humming idea, which really saved the whole recording and gave it heart, although humming is hard to get across live, as we've found. Tyson's pounding on the drums is always so fun to watch and feel. The song is about loss and the conviction it gives you to make active changes in your life.
-
Love Me Through
original version appears on Threadbare
This was the last song I wrote on the boat in Alaska. Its incredibly simple in terms of the subject, just feeling insecure about everything, basically. We had a hard time recording it, until Jason, Cambria, and Ryan made me listen to the demo again, and then it was obvious that we should keep it minimal. We started playing it live as a little break from anything too heavy.
It's a deceptive line that Van Pierszalowski tosses out to us. It's a lifesaver tied tight to the end of a frayed rope with sharp slivers jutting out from its entire surface, shooting into our needy palms like shocks and carnivores. It's a deception that applies to two of his most picked upon subjects (the hearts displacement or distrust and the great big oceans) as well as to a personal demeanor that always seems as if it's just come off of a lengthy vacation or just started on one. It's cool and calm and dry across the forehead not a worry line or a care to weight him down. It's as deceiving as it gets, for the man of such slinky blond hair easily tossed and easily hanging and the properly wined air is as turbulent as a storm-charged body of water. The lead singer of California band Port OBrien hides his insecurities and worries well in daily interactions, and pretends they arent there alive and ugly when hes just sitting around in leisurely recline, but theyre there and responsible for the emotional and moving content that he packs into his bands albums. "Threadbare," the group's latest full-length, which was released on the very same day that they recorded this session this past October, is a record that embraces that shakiness, that unsure hand and that wounded heart as the pained eyes search out what it really means to make it through trying times without totally losing your shit and breaking windows or violently knocking lamps from their perches to shattered pieces on the ground in fits of frustration. Isnt one of the most awesome and scary thoughts something like, How am I going to go? Whats going to finally be the thing thats going to destroy me and end all of my facilities? It's almost as if that was the question that Pierszalowski, Cambria Goodwin, Ryan Stively and on this tour and since Two Gallants drummer Tyson Vogel and former Rogue Wave/current Golden Gram player Gram Lebron were born to seek an answer for. It's as if this cryptic and indecipherable question is exactly what haunts their halls and makes the bumps in the night that keep their eyes bloodshot and alert, or half alert. It's almost like Pierszalowski is throwing these darts out there, in the cold darkness of a night, like hes lost on one of those endless seas that hes been intimate with since his youth working the fishing boats in the summer. It's a different world the one that you can look out upon when youre on-board a ship in the middle of an undulating and skiddish body of water, rippling and snorting its distaste and restlessness as there is no land in sight. The things that one thinks in the middle of something like nothingness, something like illusion and something like a helplessness that could, in a whim, swallow you so quickly that no one would ever find you are the things that will burn into you and never really leave you alone. They will eat you and they will comfort you as the enormity of the universe seems to make everything else pale. Port OBrien bring this fear of the almighty expanse and the worrisome notion that anything we do and anyone we proclaim our love to could still result in us being handed more of the nothingness that were trying to get away from. It can rack us and it can steady us, all at the same time, as we take on our own deceptive casings.
Port OBrien Official Site
Port OBriens Debut Daytrotter Session
Port OBriens Encore Daytrotter Session
TBD Records
