Grey Reverend tabs, chords, guitar, bass, ukulele chords, power tabs and guitar pro tabs including everlasting, one by one, altruistic holiday, fate, road less traveled.
— Released 2nd September 2013 on Motion Audio
Grey Reverend's music has been bubbling under as a jealously guarded secret for those in the know for a little while now. Fortunately, his sophomore album ‘A Hero’s Lie’ threatens to expose his raw musical power to the rest of the world. Collaborator and label mate J. Swinscoe (The Cinematic Orchestra) will release the album on his Motion Audio imprint this summer. Fresh from his stunning, highly charged turn on Bonobo's North Borders, L.D Brown’s musical catharsis is...
Grey Reverend's music has been bubbling under as a jealously guarded secret for those in the know for a little while now. Fortunately, his sophomore album ‘A Hero’s Lie’ threatens to expose his raw musical power to the rest of the world. Collaborator and label mate J. Swinscoe (The Cinematic Orchestra) will release the album on his Motion Audio imprint this summer. Fresh from his stunning, highly charged turn on Bonobo's North Borders, L.D Brown’s musical catharsis is ready to be unveiled.
Grey Reverend Fate Lyrics
Music is the Brooklyn based Brown’s way of connecting to the world, and A Hero’s Lie is about as direct and profound a connection as is likely to be found in contemporary music. Like his influences and the artists he’s often compared to – Elliott Smith, Jose Gonzales, Ray Lamontagne and Will Oldham – Brown’s work is raw both emotionally and musically. Often consisting simply of his rich, enthralling voice and distinctive, percussive guitar style, his songs are enhanced with bluesy piano, organic electronic accents and textural elements.
Opener ‘Everlasting’ ensnares the ear with its driving, plucked melody and yearning vocal. The listener is immediately enveloped by the album’s atmosphere - as invigorating as an autumnal breeze. 'My Hands' crooning vocal is instantly classic, and feels all the more valuable for the rarity of its approach. ‘This Way’s’ tentative, timeless melody and deceptively simple lyric give way to soaring, elemental textures that defy the brain not to generate the most vivid accompanying images.
‘Only One’s’ vigour recalls Brown’s admiration for Elliott Smith, and the latter’s ability to walk the fine line between huge psychic uplift and beautifully expressed despair. 'The Payoff is an emotional centrepiece; a meditation on the passage of time and co existence that’s startlingly affecting. The album's atmosphere is also informed by the loss of Brown's close friend and collaborator Austin Peralta, who tragically died in 2012. Peralta's stunning piano playing can be heard on 'The Payoff'. ‘Little Jose’ – the album’s only instrumental, and a sequel to 'Little Eli' from Grey Reverend's debut album – is a finely picked guitar solo written for Jose Gonzales. The short, sweet song unmoors the listener completely before dragging them along in its glorious, swirling current.
Brown decided to produce A Hero’s Lie himself, playing percussive elements, keys and a homemade mellotron as well as his signature rhythmic, raw guitar. The decision has paid off in spades, perhaps enhancing the cohesive sense of the album and its internal logic and recurring themes. This is an album that has been put together with the utmost sincerity. As a result, it is really, seriously good.
Grey Reverend is the solo project of songwriter L.D. Brown. He began the project in 2005 while living in Philadelphia P.A, focusing on guitar and voice as a primary means of expression. Raised on a variety of musical genres, L.D. began playing the saxophone at age 9, but didn't discover the guitar until the age of 22 ,when he moved into an apartment where someone had serendipitously left one behind. While living in Philadelphia, Brown was also fortunate enough to meet and study music under the instruction and guidance of his mentor and jazz guitar legend, Pat Martino. Soon enough, he was performing in various jazz, rock, and blues outfits throughout the City of Brotherly Love. He immersed himself in the complex language of music theory and jazz improvisation, though a few years into his burgeoning career, he mysteriously began experiencing problems with his hands while performing and practicing. This setback obscured his aspirations of becoming a Jazz guitar soloist, in the realm of such legends as Wes Montgomery and Grant Green. Alas, he vowed not to give up the instrument that he had grown to love so dearly.
Diagnosed with focal dystonia, a neurological disorder that effects fine motor skills, L.D. was forced to cope with the loss of dexterity in his hands and slowly found himself drawn towards more subtle and simplistic folk and blues compositions of songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, John Fahey, Terry Calier and Mississippi John Hurt. The desire to write and sing his own material combined with the knowledge of musicology prompted L.D. to begin crafting subversive and unique chord structures for his deeply visceral compositions. Using a stream-of-consciousness style of writing, L.D. also found inspiration in creating sincere, yet accessible lyrics about life, love,and loss.
In 2006, Brown left Philadelphia for New York City. Shortly after settling in Brooklyn, where he currently resides, he began to meet and collaborate with different artists and songwriters in his neighborhood. This manifested into a friendship with Jason Swinscoe, the founding member and leader of The Cinematic Orchestra. Swinscoe incorporated L.D. into his musical outfit, after he was commissioned to cover the now classic TCO song 'To Build a Home'. He has toured with TCO in support of the group's 2006 studio album Ma Fleur, and has been a contributing member of the group for nearly 6 years. Also while in New York L.D. began busking in the subways, helping him to develop his voice and performance skills and inevitably catching the eye of many record labels and producers.
In 2011 Grey Reverend was signed to Ninja Tune/Motion Audio Records and released his first international LP titled 'Of The Days'. L.D has toured the U.K and Europe in support of this album, and has been a featured artist on NPR's All Things Considered, in the U.S. Grey Reverend's music has also been showcased on MTV, ABC ,NBC, HBO ,BBC and other networks worldwide, since the aforementioned release.
Besides working with The Cinematic Orchestra, he has been collaborating with a wide range of artist around the world. He has worked with Bonobo, Fink, Lou Rhodes of Lamb, members of Wilco, Lizz Wright, Tortoise and many others along his journeys, and claims music to be his means of connecting with the rest of the world.
David Garland of WNYC radio in New York put it eloquently when he said 'As Grey Reverend, LD Brown makes compelling songs with reverence for the grey, undefined areas of style, and without concern for standard musical, or social expectations.'
A modern bluesman…if you will...
Fate Grey Reverend Lyrics Meaning
- Grey Reverend is a project started by songwriter L.D. Brown in 2005, according to his bio on Ninja Tune. “Fate” is featured on the album A Hero’s Lie. Brown started Grey Reverend in 2005 and he’s.
- Grey Reverend This Is Us - Season 2 (Music From the Series) Plays from Apple Music.