With his eighth album “Ouroboros,” singer-songwriter Brandon Decker of the psychedelic desert folk group decker. wanted to bring artists into one room to record.
Over two days in June 2022, 16 musicians came together at EastWest Studios in LA, a space where Frank Sinatra, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Green Day, Weezer, the Mamas and the Papas, Metallica and Kendrick Lamar have recorded.
Decker. released the album on Friday, June 9, through the Kingston, New York, label Royal Potato Family. He’ll celebrate it with a release party on Friday, June 23, at Club Congress in Tucson.
At Club Congress, the folk/rock/soul/R&B group Carlos Arzate and the Kind Souls and the eclectic folk group, The Senators, will also perform.
The band’s album is “a haunting fusion of poetry and chaos.” The Sedona-based Decker says it explores life, death, grief, struggle, new beginnings, transcendence, joy and hope.
Decker wrote the album after losing his dad to terminal cancer. Prior to that, he and his son had moved in with his parents, to help and spend time with his family.
“The objective somewhere in the creation of the record turned into how can this piece of art reach and impact other people dealing with grief? How can we find joy in a life that has so much sadness?” Decker says.
Decker has found that as he has progressed in his career, his music has gone from personal to exploring universal topics. His personal journey does inspire his music, though.
“As I’m learning to be a happier, kinder person, how can I be an instrument to help inspire other people? That’s really what the focus of the record was,” Decker says.
Decker says the album delves into spiritual topics, on which he often reflects.
“I guess you could call me a spiritual guy, very flawed, but I’m very focused on finding harmony with existence, whether that’s in my relationship to others, my relationship to the land, my relationship to myself,” Decker says.
The album features a range of styles, including doowop, hard rockers and ballads.
“Every song sits in its own little place on this record,” Decker says. “I guess that’s different from a lot of the decker. albums, which would stick to one musical theme. This one jumps around in the different styles but keeps a wonderful continuity and shape to the whole thing.”
He will often find inspiration while outdoors in nature. He enjoys activities such as hiking, kayaking, backpacking and camping, along with doing taekwondo, yoga and meditation.
“The songs reveal what they are going to be as you write them… Your job as the writer is to just be a conduit. Can you receive the transmission and try to capture it?… All you can do is just find yourself in a position to receive. For me, that means a lot of hiking and a lot sitting down with the guitar daily, spending that time nursing it,” Decker says.
He has always felt a connection with the Arizona desert, especially Sedona.
“For me, songwriting is part and parcel with my experience of life. My experience in life is being in the land of Arizona. I have written very little music outside of Arizona,” Decker says.
The album features the singles such as the vibey groove “Supernovae,” the soft ballad “Sea Change” and the hard-hitting tune “Mojave,” which decker. put out prior to the release.
The title of the album, “Ouroboros,” was inspired by the ancient Egyptian symbol of a serpent eating its own tail.
“It’s the continuity of all things, the never-ending nature, that all things are eternal. I guess ultimately that all things are one. It comes from one thing and goes back to one thing…It was a lot about death and how do we find transcendence over the many deaths we face?” Decker says.
“Ouroboros” was recorded live with no overdubs, meaning there was no piecemealing parts.
The recording featured the core group of six members who make up decker. along with other musicians and singers.
“I just hit up people I had worked with or that I really admired. For instance, Holly Pyle is a singer. She has a band House of Stairs. She’s an incredibly active songwriter and vocalist who goes between LA and Phoenix. I contacted her, and I told her I would like you to be in this choir, write the choir arrangements and refer me to other choir members,” Decker says.
The album has the signature decker. sound but features horn and string sections and a choir.
“It took what would be the ordinary decker. sound and made it more climatic and cinematic… They are all just really epic… Every song has a purpose and goes somewhere. Every song hits a point that is powerful,” Decker says.
Decker says the album is his most robust sounding music.
“I just had this idea that I really wanted to do something magnificent. That was part of the healing process honestly. I wanted to bring people together for us to do something amazing that could inspire other people,” Decker says.
From demoing to mastering, the album went through seven studios. Around 30 people helped to create it.
Leading up to the recording, the musicians rehearsed for six months. They would often get together in smaller groups to practice.
“We were just playing the album over and over again so that we could just go in and just play the record,” Decker says.
Decker says this helped them to be ready when they went into the studio.
“We would do three to four takes of a song, and once we felt like we hit it, we would move on to the next song. They were incredibly long days, like 14-hour days,” Decker says.
Decker says recording in EastWest Studios made the process feel even more monumental.
“Everyone was extra amped to be there. You could feel the history… It was like being in a museum, like being in hallowed grounds,” Decker says.
decker. “Ouroboros” Album Release Party
WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, June 23
WHERE: Club Congress, 311 E. Congress Street, Tucson
COST: $12 in advance, $15 day of show; 21 and older
INFO: 520-622-8848; deckermusic.org
