Brandon Can’t Dance summons the ghost of teenage past on “17”
In support of his new LXVE EP, Philly local Brandon Can’t Dance has (re)shared “17”. Brandon signed to Lucky Number earlier this year after some vetting from tour mate Alex G, and as his first release for the label, he has compiled a newly remastered, six song sampler of past releases. Besides a little extra punch and clarity, the tracks are virtually identical to their original counterparts, but if Brandon Ain’t Broke, Brandon Don’t Fix.
Songs with seventeen in the title or lyrics have almost become their own genre at this point, and Brandon’s take fits the form to a T. With its moody, fuzzed-out instrumental and sleepy-eyed tempo, he looks back on a few years ago as if a hundred had passed. Most of the lyrics on LXVE EP are kept purposefully vague, but what we get on “17” paints adolescence as a time of contradictions where Brandon feels “young” and “free” but also “in doubt” and “freaking out”. By the time the song blooms into its ominous, wordless hook, it almost sounds as if that year is coming back to haunt him.
LXVE is out now via Luck Number. You can catch Brandon Can’t Dance on tour this fall in support of Alex G and LVL UP.