Nathan Brannon’s second album, Because, proves his meticulous thinking makes sense. He plays with both nature and civilization. He analyzes the rules of reality, sometimes falling into the great absurd. Thus, he creates a deep onstage personality despite being judged as less than.
The album opens with a sketch about self doubt. A scenario at a coffee shop, Brannon is not recognized by the barista for being the man about town. His inner voice tells him to speak for himself. The prelude is a great set up for a comedian with an act presenting his side in this world. Brannon’s identity is compromised in society to being an “angry black dude.” His comedic persona could not sound farther from an awful stereotype, but realistically as we have all seen especially with current events, this is not an unfathomable idea.
He is put against his residing city. Portland is a predominantly white city with very liberal view points. When Brannon tries to join a protest to become a better person, choosing one is no easy task. Portland is grappling with a range of social issues to contest without finite standards. Cleverly, he satirizes this. He riffs this city, “is the only place where you can be a pimp and a feminist ally at the same time.” The concept is mind meltingly funny. He supports the notion by flipping it into the pimp’s point of view, “You can call me freelance security.” As Brannon progresses, he maps the similarities between a “people getting shot” protest and a “housing developer” protest. Humors escalates as Brannon becomes more and more obviously absurd. By the end of the bit, he plays out the viewpoint of wooden lawn furniture. His ability to postulate what others are thinking is where the punches are found.
The comic has many people to take and build this sort of set up. He has his wife, old men at the old folks’ home, his son, and any outsider with an opinion about childcare. Brannon battles these perspectives throughout album by pitting heavy topics up against absurd resolves. The jokes become satirical and meta. Such as when describes hunting ducks with a shotgun, he tags with, “He was just trying to sell you car insurance.” This displaces the audience from the story about hunting elk in nature and reminding them of the silly commercialism in the civilized world.
Sometimes the situations get so wildly ridiculous that it is hard to tell if it the comedian’s intent. He quips on fighting the geriatric and in another bit, the importance of bows and arrows. However, on the last track, Brannon’s thinking and storytelling comes full circle, and it is clear he knows to master storytelling. The setup includes his wife, his baby, and himself at a cafe, and he and his family are confronted with onlooker upset with his wife’s breastfeeding. He is able to bring back all insecurities and concerns starting from the sketch prelude. He is able to hilariously prove these are legitimate thoughts that he has, and there is some reward from it.
You can pick up Nathan Brannon: Because from Kill Rock Stars Records right here.
