Brindl

Called “kind, sassy, and understanding” by the San Diego Troubadour, Brindl’s dynamic voice, poetic songwriting, and compelling live performances have been captivating audiences in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last decade. Inspired by songwriters like Patty Griffin and Ray Lamontagne, Brindl is equal parts modern-day troubadour and soulful songstress. Love It Up is a collection of original songs that could be called folk-nouveau: a unique blend of singer-songwriter folk, soul, and blues. Brindl collaborated with engineer and bassist Ben Bernstein (New Monsoon, Deborah Crooks, KFOG) to produce and record Love It Up at Mission Recorders in San Francisco. The album features a talented team of players including Mike Stevens on drums (Mark Kozelek, Donna Summer), Dennis Haneda on electric guitar (CJ’s, Bobby Jo Valentine, The Courtney Janes), Jon Mitguard on pedal steel (Danny Click), and Ben Hulan (Courtney Janes) on Mandolin. The songs on Love It Up explore themes of empowerment, self-reliance and perseverance. “I wrote the title track Love It Up in a moment of artistic self doubt,” says Brindl. “It’s about finding your strength and letting the love and power of music to be stronger than anything that is thrown at you.” (“...all the haters and the naysayers/ Don’t let them phase you, let it raise you / High above, you meet fear with love...”) The songs range from the upbeat title track “Love It Up,” to the sweet and catchy baritone ukulele tune “Just What I Need,” to the alt-country flavored song “Understand.” Love It Up was funded by a successful Indiegogo fundraiser and featured an original video short titled This Is Music which edited together hundreds of still photos from the day she was born to present day set to an original piece of music. The album was recorded in part at Mission Recorders in San Francisco with the core trio of bass, drums and guitar and vocals. “It was important to me that the songs were recorded live to capture an authentic feel.” Overdubs for the album were recorded and mixed at Brindl’s home studio, a cabin in the woods of San Geronimo Valley. “After the initial tracking, I did the vocals, piano, and rough mixing at my studio, which gave me the space and time to really develop the musical ideas without the limitations and pressures of expensive studio time.” As well as playing acoustic guitar, piano, and keyboards on the album, Brindl also plays the baritone ukulele (“Just What I Need”) and The B-tar (“Unfolding”) a 4 stringed prototype instrument she designed that lends itself to open tuning. Brindl was born in upstate New York and raised in West Marin (San Francisco Bay Area) after her writer-photographer parents packed the family into a VW bus and drove across the country to embrace the counter culture of the West Coast. She grew up listening to an eclectic mix of everything from her parents’ LP collection of artists like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Fleetwood Mac, to big-band and jazz music of the 30’s, including records of her grandmother, big band singer, Connie Gates, that her grandfather recorded on original vinyl as an NBC radio engineer. Brindl started writing songs at age 15 after borrowing her older brother’s acoustic guitar. “My first music lessons were just learning to play all the songs in my Beatles anthology fake book.” She went on to compose film soundtracks while studying experimental film at UCSC and, after graduating, developed her songwriting and performing chops in the coffee houses and bars of Marin and San Francisco. Rather than looking for record deals in her 20’s, Brindl taught herself Pro-tools, invested in a home studio and started her own label, determined to stay true to her musical vision as a producer and engineer as well as a performer and songwriter. “Having the ability to record and develop songs on my own terms and in my own space became quickly apparent to me,” Brindl says. “It was a natural progression from editing and scoring films in film school.” Brindl has previously released two albums independently on her Moxy Music label (Acoustic Heart, 2008 and Shine, 2010) and founded moxymusic.org in 2008, a resource site and blog with marketing tips, links and articles to help inspire and empower independent singer-songwriters and musicians. Soulful Folk-Nouveau: a unique blend of singer-songwriter folk, soul, and blues. Download FREE Brindl Music Sampler at www.brindl.com