For the past 3 years music website Speak Into My Good Eye has held their 24 Hour Songwriting Challenge. The rules are simple and straightforward. Musicians are tasked to come up with a new song, written and recorded from start to finish, within a 24 hour period for a compilation album with all proceeds going to charity. The songs, created October 21st, will be out on November 17th over at the SIMGE Bandcamp page. This year all proceeds will be donated to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Amazing, lightning fast creativity, fabulous music all for a wonderful cause.
Which brings us Brian Erickson, lead singer and guitarist of Princeton based band The Paper Jets. They have been perfecting their unique blend of pop based alternative rock for 10 years now. They are reading the release of their forthcoming LP Everyday Forever which promises to be a stunner. I recently attended a show at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park and the band played the entirety of the new record. Not a weak song in the bunch. Consistently excellent.
Brian goes solo this year for the challenge (you can check out last year’s The Paper Jets contribution here) on on a quieter track that displays Erickson’s tenor in a softer space, yearning and wistful. I particularly like the sounds going on behind the acoustic strumming. Those touches of synth add the perfect undercurrent of melancholy the song demands. It is the first song he has released on his own in over 10 years and it was worth the wait.
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about the author: Ed Magdziak
