Peter Broderick - How They Are

Peter Broderick has a unique ability to stop listeners in their tracks. His music is soulfully honest and brutally brilliant yet completely simplistic in nature.

Showcasing his extraordinary talents, ‘How They Are’ is a stripped back piano-led portrait, quite unlike his more recent efforts. His vocals feel almost naked at times, shielded only by a piano accompaniment. He reveals thoughts and ideas of a more personal nature, dotted with anecdotes and filled with emotion.

However, Broderick’s lyrics are sometimes lacking, not in imagination but in the eloquence so painfully evident in his melodies. Luckily for him, this goes easily unnoticed.

Opening number, ‘Sidelines’, is easily recognisable as a key example of Peter’s signature style; soulful and heartbreaking vocals meet with minimal interference and a flowing piano backdrop.

Perhaps the only let down comes from the stylistic ‘Guilt’s Tune’, which fashions itself in a Spoken Word pattern, and doesn’t quite seem to fit with the rest of the album. Whilst it was possibly intended to stop songs bleeding into one another, instead it seems to stem the otherwise gentle flow from track to track.

The instrumental ‘When I’m Out’ doesn’t seem to need words to finish it off. Poignant melodies speak of rainy nights and cold streets, and more importantly, coming home after them. The real beauty of this track comes from the freedom awarded to the listener when interpreting its message. More than mere background music, it demands its own attention and deserves just as much.

The album highlight comes from final track ‘Hello To Nils’, a sound more typical to some of Broderick’s early work. It’s an intimate tale of goodbyes and heartbreak that rounds off this record nicely, and allows Broderick’s vocals to take more of a centre stage than other tracks on this album.

As a whole, the album is less produced than previous titles, with elegant piano solos revealing a real talent, a real treat.