Brandon Wolfe Scott
Photo Credit: Tatum Maclean

Brandon Wolfe Scott – Five Questions With

Brandon Wolfe Scott shares his EP, Slow Transmission

Vancouver, BC-based Brandon Wolfe Scott’s EP, Slow Transmission, was released on March 23 via Dine Alone Records.

The album is so beautiful and includes a few already released tracks such as “Our Back Garden” – a dedication to his former neighbours’ kids – and his insomniac-inspired song “In Stride.” On release day, he also unveiled the title track, “Slow Transmission.”

The self-produced body of work highlights the facets of complex emotions created when navigating a new space and developing new bonds. 

Brandon shares about the album,

“This project has at times felt Sisyphean, endlessly pushing my boundaries – both personal and creative. Challenged by the balance between the intimate and the public, ‘Slow Transmission’ explores themes of being in a relationship with one’s inner demons.”

Slow Transmission” is my vague existential metaphor about longing to go somewhere compelling and different from my everyday life. Our current economic situation doesn’t allow for much forward motion or growth, so I’m constantly checking in with myself about my future as an artist; is this sustainable? Is my relationship with my art healthy? And what will life look like in 20 years’ time, realistically?” asks Brandon. “Furthermore, this song is an ode to my used, 23 year old Honda CRV that I refer to as Mert (it’s myrtle green). When driving around the city, I find it to be a meditative space where I write the majority of my song melodies, and lyrics. It’s also very useful for testing out mixes on, if a recording sounds good on Mert’s system then it’ll sound good anywhere! Even though it has the slowest transmission ever and struggles to get up hills, Mert has always been a reliable freedom machine, and I often say that it’s the best thing I ever bought.

Listen to Slow Transmission below and learn more about Brandon Wolfe Scott via our Five Questions With segment.

Care to introduce yourself to our readers?

My name is Brandon Wolfe Scott. I’m a singer-songwriter/producer from Vancouver, B.C. I’m also a founding member of the Canadian indie rock group Yukon Blonde. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent release.

My latest body of work is a 5 track EP titled Slow Transmission. This started out as a self-recorded batch of songs (it’s normally how I prefer to make music), but as I started to dive deeper into the recording process, I began to lose perspective and found it difficult to bring these recordings to the finish line. 

After sitting on the songs for a few months, my good friend Jackson Gardner reached out to take a crack at the sessions at his studio ‘Long Haul’. He took on the engineering role for a few sessions where we added drums, pedal steel, and extra overdubs. Even though these additions were subtle to the arrangements, it was crucial to have that outside perspective and enthusiasm.

The final tracks were then mixed and mastered at All Day Coconut in Toronto by Gavin Gardiner (The Wooden Sky). Slow Transmission was released on March 23rd via DineAlone Records.

Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?

Most of the songs I write are very autobiographical. I certainly draw from my surroundings and day-to-day life. I find I get my best lyrical ideas in the morning when I’m out walking my dog. I’ll usually comb through voice memos on my phone with headphones and find scrappy fragments of ideas from the previous day or many months that I had forgotten about. By the time I get home, I’ll usually find a riff, melody, or lyrical line that feels inspiring and head right into my studio to put a song idea down.  

Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?

I had a nice string of shows around the EP release, including Toronto, Vancouver, and Penticton. Stay tuned for more to come!

My drummer Graham (from Yukon Blonde) and I flew out to Toronto for a show supporting Altameda at The Cameron House. 

*Fun Fact- Erik from Altameda is also an incredibly talented artist. He put together all the art for the Slow Transmission rollout,  so it was a great way to celebrate the release with him (and I’m a big fan of his band!)

What’s your goal for 2023?

I’ve got a few new song ideas in the works, so my plan is to find some time in the next couple of months to have a solo recording retreat, rent a quiet house somewhere weird, set up a bunch of gear, and finish a batch of songs. Yukon Blonde also has a lot of plans in the coming months, and we’re all excited to share some new music soon.

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