Brent Roberts' "Light in August" is a catchy pop gem reminiscent of the smooth, moody ballads of Pet Shop Boys or Tears for Fears. The hushed vocals are layered on a beautiful, lush soundscape that reveals more to the ear with each listen.

3 MP3 Songs
POP: with Electronic Production, EASY LISTENING: Soft Rock



Details:
Sometime around the fall of 1994, in a tiny red room in Takoma Park, Maryland I started the basis of the song that was to become Light in August. The chord progression of the verse poured out quickly. Words came easily about spirits wandering the earth by my window in the fall rain. These imagined spirits urged me to remember that my pure essence lies deep beyond the struggles and joys we know in our daily lives. The verse was haunting and beautiful, the chorus was never quite right. It changed keys and lay there flat - proclaiming my message like a mail order preacher. I recorded a demo of this work called Beasts and Birds with Mark Brillhart on vocals at the time and thought it had a lot of potential but just wasn't living up to it. I tried to rewrite the chorus a thousand times with no luck.

The song then gathered dust for 10 years except for occasional plays wherein I remind myself what music I have left laying around unfinished. In 2004 I was moved to write lyrics that I later realized were for this music. I quickly discovered the melody for the old Beast and Birds verse was really a chorus. I just needed new verses. Minutes later the whole thing seemed to arrive en masse after I decided that the chord progression should remain constant and only the melody should vary.

The song was mixed by Marco Delmar and mastered by Antonio Pacheo at Recording Arts in VA, and features Amikaeyla Gaston (see her work at http://cdbaby.com/amikaeyla) on backing vocals and Marco Delmar on guitar.

I hope you enjoy the song and please tell your friends ;-).

Peace and love,
Brent
(and more peace - we could use all there is...)