John Brewster – “Every Time I Chose It”

The last time I saw former SondorBlue member John Sheehan was when Nordista Freeze played at Charleston house show venue Dead End last summer. We got to talking and he mentioned that he was writing music for a solo project, taking time to reflect and grow as an individual, and listening to a lot of Kacey Musgraves. The single he released this morning, under the name John Brewster (his middle name), is our first listen to what’s come from his reflections, and his almost two years away from releasing music.

“Every Time I Chose It” is a patient folk song that uses ambient production and spaced-out acoustic guitar to highlight the life-questioning nature of the lyrics. It’s a curious, introspective tune that doesn’t make any grand conclusions, but rather calmly accepts life’s challenges and keeps moving forward.

With “Every Time I Chose It”, Brewster taps a chilled-out, self-observant vibe that is definitely a logical next step for him from the now-defunct Charleston band SondorBlue. His contribution to the band was always on the ambient and acoustic side, comparatively speaking, and the quiet folk of “Every Time I Chose It” seems to work for him. It feels like a direction that SondorBlue could have explored more, but they could never seem to decide if they wanted to be a rock band, a folk band, or something more experimental.

Listen to “Every Time I Chose It” by John Brewster below.