Brandon patton: breaking up is hard to do


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Brandon Patton spends the bulk of his time playing bass for nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot, but he also writes his own emotional indie rock on the side. A Minnesota native who now calls Staten


Island home, Patton wrote his new album _Underhill Downs_ about his time spent living on Underhill Avenue in Brooklyn. After splitting with a girlfriend of eight and a half years, Patton


says he spent much of that period walking around in a jilted haze. The songs on _Underhill Downs_ mostly concern the breakup and his subsequent attempts to date again. The album's weary


tone, overdub-heavy production and experimental song structures effectively reflect Patton's emotional headspace at the time. But one of its simplest and most compelling tracks,


"Ashes and Stains," paints a vivid picture through more traditional songwriting tools. Its slow-yet-insistent buildup, deceptively jubilant-sounding chorus, key change and soft


fade out make for an accessible, immediate tune. Lyrically, of course, it focuses on love lost, with a bit of self-pity thrown in: "I'm walking in the park through the moonlit


trees / Thinking of you closing the bar down," Patton sings, adding, "Cut me some slack / I'm still getting my nerve back." By capturing his own self-doubt, Patton crafts


a narrative that's as relatable as it is raw. _Listen to yesterday's Song of the Day, and subscribe to the Song of the Day newsletter._ Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit


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