In recent years we’ve seen the indie-pop scene bless us with so many talented artists. However, Brian Erickson is a singer-songwriter that has caught our attention the most. With his outstanding debut album “Little Secrets”, he has the potential to become one of the biggest names.
Beautiful nostalgic melodies, extraordinary voice, pure sounds, but with avant-garde touches, “Little Secrets” is a musical jewel from start to finish. Listen right now:
We had the opportunity to pick his brain and get to know him, read our interview below.
Welcome to The-Further! First things first, can you tell us who you are and how you started to make music?
I’m Brian Erickson, a left-handed brunette from the United States who enjoys collecting enamel pins and talking about myself. I started playing guitar in college. The four friends I made when I went away to school all played guitar to varying degrees of competency. The short of it is that I got jealous. The longer version is that I looked at each one of them as these “benchmarks” of skill. I used that as motivation to try and gradually become better than each of them. The competition was friendly, but I came in there dead-serious. And I remain the only one that still plays regularly. Most of them have families now and I wonder about why someone would forego such a unique skill. But I guess parenting is also a skill, so…
What inspires you to write music?
I alluded to having been competitive in the last question, and that doesn’t change here. I hear someone do something, and I consider the ways in which I might take that an improve upon it. I find inspiration from my peers and from listening to other music and sound. I’m not particularly inspired by literature and poetry. That’s just a separate enjoyment; like watching sports or cooking. I get inspired by seeing other creative people at work.
Do you have a specific creative process?
I don’t consider myself much of an artist, to be honest. I feel like I’m more of a craftsperson. Songs aren’t children, they’re tools. And like tools, you tend to accumulate them for use across different projects. That’s not to say my records aren’t thought out. But certain tools work well on certain projects and are completely useless on others. Sometimes it will take years for me to figure out where a song might belong if it even belongs anywhere! I don’t divine songs out of thin air. I sit down and hammer them out. Lyrically, the first few lines do just come to me, and then it’s up to me to craft the rest of the song and discern what it’s going to be about.
Can you tell us more about your latest release?
My latest release is called Little Secrets. It’s got 10 songs, but it’s purposefully short; maybe around 25 minutes. If you can watch an episode of The Office, you should be able to sit through this. The first half of the record is proper singles and most of the second half are shorter vignettes and instrumentals that all connect together. I call it my “kitchen table album,” because that’s exactly where it was recorded. No studio, no additional musicians. And to exemplify how I use songs as tools to help build certain projects, only two of these are brand new. The others have been written over the course of the last six years, just waiting for the right record. It all comes full circle: philosophy meets execution.
What do you plan for the future?
An artist’s future plans are rarely up to them. It’s really up to the people to decide. If they enjoy the album enough to propel me from my small corner of peaceful obscurity, then I’ll react appropriately. If not, then I’ll keep making records for my enjoyment and continue running this strange race that I seem to be in with myself.
