Album Review: Briscoe Shows Off Blossoming Musical Genius in ‘Flower Johnson’
In the Austin duo’s debut album, Briscoe explores the duality of youthful experience and the confusingly beautiful journey of life through their artful storytelling and unique blend of distinct musical genres.
Written by Emma Tanner
Photographed by Tiffany Chung
If anyone knew that an innocent summer camp bromance would lend itself to a long lasting and fruitful musical partnership, it certainly wasn’t these two red-headed homies. Truett Heitzelman and Philip Lupton are the faces behind the name, together comprising the up-and-coming musical duo that is Briscoe. Their friendship blossomed in the heat of a Texas summer at Laity Lodge Youth Camp located in the hill country, eventually leading to the two establishing themselves as the melodious duo. Briscoe was formed in the spring of 2018 with the recording of the EP From the Room. “It started as an outlet for my original music and later grew to include Truett,” Philip says.
Laity Lodge is comfortably nestled on the Frio River in Leakey, TX, making it the perfect origin story for the earthy melodies and Americana folk-heavy sound of Briscoe’s newest record. The band’s members hail from the Lone Star State and currently identify themselves as Austin locals, where they attend the University of Texas as undergraduate students. Truett and Philip actively balance their art with their trade as they pursue their musical careers while simultaneously obtaining degrees in business and geological sciences, respectfully. Their Texas roots are easily distinguishable in their unique folk sound, which melds Americana soul with country twang and a healthy helping of jazz-heavy saxophone riffs thrown in for the hell of it. It is this uniqueness of sound that establishes Briscoe as a truly exceptional duo and highlights its artful mastery of musical identity, revealing just the tip of the iceberg that is the future potential of this ridiculously talented pair.
In the band’s debut album, Flower Johnson, Briscoe demonstrates a maturity of sound and personal reflection well beyond their years. In the majority of the album’s 10 tracks, they reflect on the bewildering romantic adventures of teenagerdom with a uniquely perceptive introspection that makes it seem as if the story is being told by a wise man reflecting on the juvenile musings of his former adolescence.
Briscoe recorded the entirety of Flower Johnson in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic, which made the strangely perfect time for the duo’s debut album. “When COVID hit in the spring, recording the album seemed like one of the only things that we could do as a band to continue to grow within the CDC guidelines,” Philip says. “Being in the studio is socially distanced, and since all of our plans were cancelled, it worked out that we had a couple of weeks to sit down and really focus on recording.”
Starting off with the album’s title track, “Flower Johnson” begins with a sweet melody, synonymous to honey dripping lazily on the tongue or the feeling of drying off in warm summer sunshine after a dip in the river. The lighthearted, carefree refrain almost distracts listeners from the deeper meaning of its lyrics, discussing the narrator’s identity crisis as he’s forced to confront his two warring personalities. “The name ‘Flower Johnson’ was the alter-ego of one of my friends when he was a kid,” Lupton says. “I thought it would be a good song name, and it ended up as the title track for the album.”
Flower Johnson embodies all that is free and happy and good in life, and the narrator calls on the nebulous character to keep this part of his soul alive as he surrenders to the gray monotonies of growing up. He sings, “Oh when I’m gone / Flower Johnson sing my songs” and “Oh when I die / Flower Johnson save my pride,” morphing his repetitive plea for the Flower Johnson character to serve as the track’s chorus. The track perfectly captures the feelings that come with the late years of adolescence, where youthful teenage joys slip out from right under you as the looming responsibilities of adulthood seem to get closer by the hour.
The opening track leads smoothly into “Dirty Shoes,” which portrays a young and beautifully reckless love, telling the story of the narrator’s lovergirl from the perspective of his own rose-colored lenses. Touching on her usage of drugs, affinity towards alcohol, and preference for petty shoplifting, the narrator tells the story of his gleefully boyish romance with the pretty girl with dirty shoes. Though the toxic qualities of their relationship are accessible to the listener, they are obscured by the gleeful melody and lyrical talk of adolescent abandonment and carefree dancing. An upbeat guitar riff is the main character on this track, supported by a delightfully energetic drum loop which makes it the perfect song for a windows-down cruise around town on a sunny spring day.
“Anna Rosa” serves as another highlight on the project, telling a (somewhat) tall tale of romantic companionship. The song’s aura feels reminiscent of the desertous hills of the Wild West, lending a bit of an Americana flare to the folk-heavy album. The cleverly overlapped guitar solos and subtle fiddle riffs partner smoothly with stark drum hits, showcasing the melodic mastery of the musical pair. The song’s storyline depicts an entanglement between the narrator and the enigma that is Anna Rosa.
A free spirit, Anna Rosa roams the world as she establishes a path for herself — one that will probably lead to San Francisco, far from the narrator’s native home of the Texas hill country. This leaves the narrator feeling somewhat spiteful and hurt, as he says “Bye-bye, Anna Rosa / I never loved you anyway.” He tries to mend his heart that has been broken by Anna Rosa’s rejection, but ends up getting caught up in his own sorrow. He says, “When I finally heard the shouting / They were already circled around me / ‘Cause the weather is always cloudy where the sun don’t shine.” The narrator is trapped, not only by his emotional sorrows, but also by the cloudy skies of loneliness that Anna Rosa left behind from chasing her dreams in the sun-soaked hills of California.
“3am Song (Tina and Chester)” shows off Briscoe’s artful mastery of a broad range of musical genres, exemplifying the duo’s talent for jazz and R&B. Philip Lupton exhibits his mastery of appropriately-flowery saxophone riffs in this track, establishing the instrument as the front-and-center melody. The track is a more lighthearted addition to the album, discussing themes of youthful abandon and a ‘c'est la vie’ type of attitude that favors a laid back, ‘ignorance is bliss’ approach to living life.
Lupton’s saxophone riffing makes itself known once again on “She Burns Away.” Though the sax takes the spotlight, it is accompanied by some jazzy piano chords and a lilting violin that serve as a backtrack and effectively sets a velvety smooth tone for the track’s catchy melody. “She Burns Away” tells the story of yet another unidentified female muse, characterizing her as a mysterious type that seems to exist just outside the grasp of the narrator’s yearning hands. The story details a young woman coming into herself, ditching the outdated innocence of her youth for the fiery intrigue of young adulthood. She is pursuing an identity that is starkly unique, and the narrator is watching from a distance as her story unfolds.
Oft confused as brothers, Truett and Philip have formed a musical companionship similar to that of fond siblingship, establishing a bond that plays to one another’s strengths and results in a deep-seated mutual understanding evident in their musical production. Their vocal melodies play off of each other artfully — never overstepping one another — always joining together at the most perfect moments of the track and then bouncing off to respectfully go their separate ways once more.
In songs like “Trade the Sun,” the pair poetically combine their vocals and enable listeners to feel the innate raw emotion portrayed by their sound, evoking an intimate atmosphere that makes the listener feel as if they’ve just ripped a page straight out of Briscoe’s personal diary. “Trade the Sun” starts out with a sample of a rainy day downpour, setting the tone for the heart-wrenching track. The song tells of another case of ‘right person, wrong time,’ detailing the sorrow of unfortunate timing in finding love. The narrator tells of the all-encompassing love he has for the person he’s found, that one person whom he can spend forever with “sitting on the dock of the bay / just wasting the day.”
The album concludes with “The Price of Truth,” a brother track to “Trade the Sun.” The song begins with the rain sample that loops throughout the former song, perfectly linking the two and seamlessly melding their narratives. “The Price of Truth” details the stark realization that the storyteller has when he comes to terms with the fact that his relationship is truly and totally over. Right before he starts singing, the rain fades out, symbolizing the narrator’s clarity as the storm has passed. In more ways than one, he accepts responsibility for letting their love fall apart past salvageable repair, and coming to terms with that truth — though painful — is necessary for both of them to truly move on.
Briscoe’s debut album Flower Johnson sets them apart from competition by establishing the young duo as both versatile songwriters and artful storytellers, willing to lay it all out on the line for the development of their craft. “We hope listeners can tell how much fun we have making this music and how much it means to us,” Philip says. “We really hope this spring will provide more opportunities to get our name out there and start playing live again.”
This work is just the beginning for the Austin pair, and it puts on full display the musical aptitude, wise introspection, and emotional intelligence that will lead to only more great work from these two lively redheads. This may be the first you’ve heard of Briscoe, but it most definitely will not be the last. Flower Johnson made sure of that.