6 December, 2023Print
Brittany Davis Invites Us To See Their World Through Sound On One-Of-A-Kind Full-Length Debut Image Issues (Out March 1 On Loosegroove Records)
Listen To New Soul-Funk Meets Hip-Hop Mash-Up "Sepricon" Here, Featuring Brittany On All Instruments: https://youtu.be/MiqSscagM0A
"Brittany's music is a potent expression of hope...giving the listener courage to face the challenges the world throws at them." - NPR All Songs Considered
Photo credit: Lance Mercer
"As a blind person I've never had an actual visual experience, sound is the way I've always seen the world." It's from this perspective that Seattle's rising star Brittany Davis invites us to see life from their unique, underrepresented lens on Image Issues; a deeply candid and profoundly curated 'audio movie' serving as Davis' debut full-length project out March 1 via Pearl Jam founder Stone Gossard’s Loosegroove Records. Emerging as a true artist to watch with 2022’s ‘I Choose To Live’ EP, Davis was quickly championed by tastemakers from SXSW to NPR Music, who invited them to perform at the hallowed Tiny Desk (“it felt like a true live concert,” said Bob Boilen of the riveting four-song debut). With Image Issues, Davis turns their vibrant creativity and seemingly-limitless talent to share all they’ve endured - from discrimination as a Black, non-binary, blind musician, to traumatic family experiences touching on abuse, gun violence and the prison system - as a means to honor how much they’ve already overcome and risen above.
Pre-order Image Issues here: https://orcd.co/imageissues
Listen to new song “Sepricon” and watch the accompanying visual here. Brittany reflects:"‘Sepricon’ was definitely born to funk...to soul funk! The record is an ode to James Brown and filled with thoughtless greatness...there really is no rhyme or reason to it...all primal instinct." The video was directed by Tony-nominated modern dance choreographer Donald Byrd (The Color Purple, The Minstrel Show).
Davis wrote each of the 26 musical pieces and spoken-word vignettes (dubbed ‘Treadmill Memories’) that make up Image Issues, while also playing every instrument, contributing every vocal part and co-producing the collection as well. Their singular intuition results in a cross-genre debut that finds its vivid inspiration from many corners of the musical landscape: Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Alicia Keys, Jimi Hendrix, Beyonce, Cardi B. Teaming with Davis on Image Issuesare a group of prominent hometown supporters who have helped them bring this sonic film to life - including Pearl Jam’s Gossard, who signed Davis to his Loosegroove Records (and is their bandmate in rock group Painted Shield), and the album’s co-producer Josh Evans (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Brandi Carlile). “Image Issues is like a Prince record or a Stevie Wonder record,” reflects Evans. “It almost feels a little subversive to make music like this…it’s sneaking a real art project into a pop record.”
While praised for possessing an "intuitive virtuosity across deeply-felt rock, funk, and R&B" (SPIN), Davis credits the music as something that lives deep inside their soul: "I'm just a vessel of sound. I'm not the music; I'm the delivery system, the boombox. The boombox just plays the music. Everyone has their own beliefs, but I believe it's coming directly from the divine. I'm just the projector. It's like, the TV screen doesn't say 'I made the movie.' It just shows you what's made." Davis will share more of Image Issues and perform the album live throughout 2024, with more announcements coming soon. Next, they’ll be performing at the Rennes Trans Musicales Festival in France on December 7th, and they’ll return to Europe for more touring this summer. For more information and tour dates please visit https://brittanydavismusic.net/
Brittany Davis - Image Issues tracklist:
SIDE A
Treadmill Memories I
Image Intro
Sho Nuff
Lashes
Treadmill Memories II
Through the Motions
Coming
Treadmill Memories III
Daddy's Gerl
Treadmill Memories IV
I'm Sick
SIDE B
Follow My Lead
Kari's Face
Halfway
So Fly
Fallout
Treadmill Memories V
Goons
Never
SIDE C
Sepricon
Image Issues
Treadmill Memories VI
Wanted You to Know
Treadmill Memories VII
Trading Secrets
Soft As the Sand
SIDE D
Amid the Blackout of the Night
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