Bryanna Rain’s latest release, Petrichor, is a collection of outtakes, B-sides, and remixes of songs released on her album, released earlier this year, and it’s very important to keep this in mind if you decide to dedicate 36 minutes of your time to listen to this album, as it doesn’t exactly go swimmingly.
Bryanna is an author and a singer out from Richmond, Virginia, who’s been making music since her childhood, releasing her first EP at 13. She’s also an avid player of role-playing games, which act as a source of lyrical and sonic inspiration for her 2019 debut.
This album, Petrichor, is a weird, interconnected journey that ebbs and flows, rattles and hums, warps, twists, and stutters, but ultimately fails to find a pace, or to make a statement strong enough to be taken into account. The level of electronic mingling on the album’s 12 short pieces is mind-blowing. The amount of acoustic instrumentation is naturally minimal, and that’s more than fine in case the electronics provide a basis that’s solid, functional, and efficient, which they don’t for the most part.
Pandemica & Blaming Simar are bangers with warped vocals and solid beats. When Ferretheads Attack feature one of the most disconcerting vocals takes I’ve heard in recent times, intentionally modulating to a different key while the music stays put, initially sounding like a vocal blunder only to become obvious, soon afterward, that it’s a bold experiment.
Bryanna’s music is making ripples. Featuring on iTunes playlists as well as charting there, with her video for Arcades, Aeroplanes being aired on MTV. So, not all her music contains this level of edginess or experimentation. I would consider this album of hers a personal release. An album she releases because she connects with the sounds within it. But ultimately not everyone will be able to feel that level of connection, unfortunately, as the level of electronic twisting is simply off the charts. A perfect album, though, for a trip (of that kind).