I really discovered Brandi some time in mid October last year. My dad had bought her second CD, The Story, some time before, after hearing her on Pat Monahan’s (of Train) solo album Last of Seven. (The song is Pirate on the Run and it happens to be the best song on the album. The album has some other good tunes, but as a whole it’s a bit too “pop” for me.)

I had heard Brandi’s music here and there but never really paid attention until I started hearing some of her stuff playing at work, where we have all of our music on the server and have a rather large randomized playlist. I finally paid attention and realized it was some really good music.

Come Christmas, I gave my dad her new album, Give Up the Ghost, on vinyl, only mostly because he wanted it. As many new albums do, it took a bit of warming up for me; new and modified sounds and styles tend to throw me. But after a couple of listens, I knew that Give Up the Ghost was still great music, and one song in particular stood out to me.

That is, of course, Before It Breaks. Honestly, I don’t know what it means. I’m a bit slow on the uptake of song meanings; but with a beautiful piano lead (which happened to be inspired by Elton John, who spun another song from the album, Caroline, into a fantastic jam) and Brandi’s incredible vocals, this song quickly pushed its way into the rank of my “Temporary Favorite Song, Period”. That is to say, right now there is no song I like better, but it’s probably only a matter of time before that changes. Then again, it has been in the position since at least early February; I recall at the concert I had the pleasure of attending in Knoxville, Tennessee, I was practically the only one who clapped excitedly at the introduction of the song, though two others seemed to briefly follow my lead.

Speaking of concerts, even some of my least-liked Carlile songs became a thousand times better when experienced live. If you like any of her music, go to a concert. I hope I haven’t used the word “amazing” too many times in this post, because I’m too lazy to go check, but she and her band put on an amazing performance.

Anyway, the song was stuck in my head tonight, so spilling it into a blog post seemed like the right thing to do.