Weird Year by Neil Brogan

Weird Year is a song diary of the fabled year 2020. It was not conceived as such but fell together as one as the year progressed. It was recorded at home, in stolen hours and hushed tones. These are songs located in the present tense, inspired by the proximity of immediate surroundings and close domesticity, by the passing of seasons as seen from the smudged living room window, the stationary car. Some songs approach this view from a naive perspective, playful and curious, uncomprehending. Others evoke a lost, drawn out summer of cancellations, miscommunications and garden visitations. Local heroes are torn down, local villains dispatched. Underlying anxiety is addressed in the title track, finding comfort in the tangible and near. “The inverse of what’s real and within touching/ is what’s there to fear/ not for nothing/ do I hold you/ So dear." These are brief songs, sometimes despairing, sometimes hopeful. I made them myself with what I had to hand. Making them was a raft of sanity for me. I hope you enjoy them.

NB, December 2020

I like making songs.