Brennan Jasso is an eclectic Singer-Songwriter, Producer, and Mixing Engineer who uses various styles in his music to make something that is uniquely his.
Shortly after being born in Cuernavaca, Mexico, he moved to Miami Beach, Florida where he presently resides. With two full-length albums out and a third that’s currently in the works, we get to feast upon the musical collection of songs that are found on Brennan Jasso’s recently released EP, “Life in a Fishbowl.”
Commencing the project with the melodically flowing single “Envelop,” Brennan Jasso emits a striking blend of harmonies that showcase his angelic vocal range. Through the soft-spoken timbres that flow elusively through your speakers, we get swept into the saccharine descants that have us basking in opulent guitar riffs, and colossal percussion patterns that submerge you deeper into the artistic virtuoso that Brennan Jasso holds in his jurisdiction of musicality. The effortless blend of components that make themselves known in the soothing framework before us allows us to get a better feel of who Brennan Jasso is as an artist on the eccentric scale of unconventional resonance.
Taking us into the transmuted energy that “I Once Knew,” serves up to us, we get an edgier feel in the instrumentation with the blend of sustaining guitar riffs that dip into an established prevalence. The intriguing vocalization of Brennan Jasso’s carefully crafted lyrics has us hanging onto the spacious soundscape of abstract wording. With lyrical motifs such as, ‘I know I fucked up. I know I did bad. I knew what I’d done. Let me right my wrongs,‘ playing into the darker scheme of a characterized foundation, we appreciate the depths that Brennan Jasso will go in order to expose the vulnerable thoughts that linger on his mind.
With “Unknown,” being the final record on “Life in a Fishbowl,” we’re presented with a candid display of textured distortion that elevates the multidimensional feel that is found on this EP. You find yourself marinating in psychedelic nods that infiltrate your mind in a major way. Fashioned through the offering of extensive vocal layers that submerge you in the impeccable timing cues mastered by Brennan Jasso, there’s an ominous juxtaposition that is on the rise with “Unknown.”
Leaving us to feast on everything that translates into perception, the melodic content of “Life in a Fishbowl,” has us lured into what Brennan Jasso conveys as a creative.
Congratulations on the release of your three-track EP, “Life in a Fishbowl.” With such a fascinating approach to the tracklist, we have to know; what inspired the overall concept that’s laced into these songs? Was there a method to the order that we find them in?
Thank you so much, this is a very personal release for me. These songs are my honest take on the feelings I was having and represent what felt like a loop I had going on in my head for a large part of the pandemic. I had just gone through a shitty breakup and the lock-in of quarantine kind of just left me festering. I see the three songs as the logical progression: Love, loss, and the unknown.
How does a body of work of this caliber compare to other projects that we can find in your music catalog?
I really feel like this release is the first one to get to this level sonically that I listen back and think, “Damn, that does sound good!” I have mixed all the music that I’ve released so far and this is the first project I feel I took it all the way home.
Was there a particularly creative approach that you took to the construction of these songs? Could you please share a glimpse of what that looked like?
I actually had just bought myself a new Apollo X4 from Universal Audio and it gave me access to these incredible emulations of classic preamps like the Neve 1084 and the Avalon VT737. Every guitar you hear is actually emulated from a direct-in signal by the Marshall Plexiglass Amplifier plugin. It was the access to this new tech and sonic texture that led me to start creating these three songs.
I worked out of my room in my apartment and produced everything from there and wrote the three songs in their entirety as demos. I actually broke my arm right before I could record the guitar parts, so my good friend Dylan McCue (from The Hails) played most guitar on all three. I eventually got better and was able to lay some overdubs!
I really was so lucky to be able to rely on some amazing musicians to keep the music fresh without me in the room. The drums were recorded in a local studio and the other instruments were recorded in the musician's homes. This is a DIY homegrown project to its core. I just made sure everyone delivered parts that fit into the puzzle and then I sang over them, mixed them, and mastered them in my room.
Do you find that your growth as an artist is reflected through this EP? Could you please elaborate on that?
Totally, this release feels grown-up. I’ve been writing music since I was 15 and releasing it since I was 17 and this EP is the start of a new era for me. I think I’m putting my best foot forward with this release and keeping with my pace, I just want to make music that expresses my deepest feelings but can also make someone wanna jam out. I’m coming to a place where that is feeling more and more like a reality.
How does it feel to get this side of your story out to your audience? If listeners could take away the main message from “Life in a Fishbowl,” what would you like that to be?
I think if I wanted to impart a message to my listeners it’s that they should love fully, be honest with themselves, and take a moment to take a breath and accept the things that come, whatever they may be.