Shawn Brown's Into the Furious Light EP: A Raw and Radiant Triumph

Some artists play music. Others, like Shawn Brown, live it. Portland’s own indie-rock troubadour is back with Into the Furious Light, a strikingly introspective EP that peels back the layers of resilience, sadness, and redemption with unapologetic honesty. It’s Shawn Brown at his most unfiltered—armed with his signature vocals, cinematic melodies, and a newfound urgency that commands attention.

Breaking away from his usual Los Angeles recording routine, Brown took a more grounded approach this time, crafting Into the Furious Light in his hometown of Portland. Produced by the illustrious Grecco Buratto (Shakira, Tegan and Sara, Lionel Richie) and recorded at The Panther Studio, the EP is the first to feature the full Shawn Brown Band—Ben Landsverk, Jeff Langston, and Ned Failing—who bring an electric yet deeply organic energy to the project.

Engineer Steve Drizos helped capture the raw, intimate textures of the EP, while Tiago Becker’s mixing and Juan Garcia Petri’s mastering refined it into a sonic powerhouse. The result? A work that feels as personal as a whispered secret and as anthemic as a stadium chorus.

The EP’s lead single, Hold Fast, serves as its thematic backbone—an explosive rallying cry against the numbing effects of avoidance and distraction. In an age where it’s easier to scroll than to sit with our thoughts, Brown challenges listeners to feel everything, no matter how uncomfortable. This isn’t just a song; it’s a wake-up call wrapped in a kick-ass alt-rock package.

Other standouts include Let Them Love You, an aching reminder that vulnerability isn’t weakness, and The Sad Ones (Acoustic Version), which strips everything back to its emotional core, proving that sometimes, simplicity hits the hardest.

Pairing sonic storytelling with striking visuals, Brown enlisted celebrated San Francisco photographer Joshua Sing for the EP’s artwork. Known for his nostalgic, introspective analog photography, Sing’s imagery perfectly complements the reflective nature of Into the Furious Light, adding another layer of depth to the project.

The response to Into the Furious Light has been overwhelmingly positive. Fans and critics alike have lauded Brown’s raw lyricism and fearless storytelling. His recent singles, The Sad Ones and Road of Bones, have already amassed significant playlist placements and radio play, solidifying Brown’s place in the indie-rock sphere.

But beyond streams and stats, Brown hopes this EP does something bigger. “Hope… truly,” he says, when asked what he wants listeners to take away from it. And in a world that often feels like it’s spinning too fast, his music might just be the thing to help us all hold fast.

Your new EP, Into the Furious Light, has been described as your most raw and evocative work yet. What inspired this project, and how does it differ from your past releases?

It’s felt pretty amazing to see so much positive feedback about this release, just in general. And you’re right - there has been a lot of talk about how raw the songs sound and all that.  I suppose there are some notable differences between these new songs and my previous work, but I haven't put a lot of thought into much of that until now. I don’t make records these days unless something really bubbles up that I just HAVE to record and share.

My last couple of singles were that way. Both Road of Bones and The Sad Ones started off as these little voice memos on my phone and then became these records that I really love and was exceedingly fired-up to put out. This EP was no different in that way, these were the next songs I wrote and felt strongly enough about to share with Grecco (Burratto). And look - If Grecco likes something I write, that’s a huge relief right there. That's basically 90% of the work done. If he grabs onto something, I know we’re going to make something cool out of it.

As far as the “rawness” and all of that goes, I do think there’s an urgency running through these songs that probably stands out. I’m super proud of all of the work Grecco and I have done together over the years, but I do think there’s something more immediate about these songs in particular that people seem to be reacting to. 

The lead single, Hold Fast, conveys resilience and confronting life’s struggles rather than avoiding them. What personal experiences or observations led you to write this song?

Thanks so much for jumping onto those themes. That’s awesome! Early on in the recording process, I remember Ben Landsverk (Brown’s bandmate and great friend) pointed out that the song we were making was about “sailing INTO the storm, not AWAY from it” and that the record needed to sound like that. He was 100% correct there. I think it is far, far too easy to distract ourselves these days when we feel uncomfortable.

Our phones, social media, all of it can serve as easy ways to not have to feel the hard stuff. So I think Hold Fast is trying to speak to that part of us that needs to hang in there and take the challenges or discomfort straight on instead of allowing distractions to pivot us away from working through something hard.

The irony is that so many of the things that we too-often rely on to sooth or distract ourselves contribute to way more discomfort anyway. It is a vicious cycle that way. I have to watch out for those kinds of traps just as much as the next person.

Being a human can be rough, right? 

This EP marks the first time your full band was featured on a recording. How did that impact the sound and energy of these songs compared to your previous work?

In a word - HUGE. Grecco and I have this established recording process, which essentially began out of necessity during the COVID pandemic. We do a lot of tracking in LA and typically record with an absolute “murders row” of killer players from his circles in town. So I usually fly down to LA and record with him there. That process has worked really well for us and I love all the records we’ve made that way. Meanwhile though, I’ve also been putting together this killer band here in Portland to play shows with.

Once Grecco and I started talking about recording the new songs, we organically decided to reverse our recording process. Once I’d written Hold Fast, I immediately took it to the band to work up for live shows and it just sounded so damn good. As a result, it just seemed like the perfect opportunity to cut that song with my band and turn this recording process into a Portland-party this time around.

So essentially we booked time with Steve Drizos over at his Panther Studio and Grecco flew up to Portland to produce the sessions with me and the band. There’s an energy to Hold Fast that can’t be reproduced any other way than us all in a room playing together. I think the necessary urgency was captured really well on that track. You can really hear it on there. 

You collaborated with renowned producer Grecco Buratto and recorded in your hometown of Portland. How did those choices shape the final product, and what was the creative process like in the studio? 

Grecco is a really steady hand in the studio, so those were fun sessions. I don’t ever go into the studio with a completed idea in my head. For me, that takes most of the fun out of the whole thing. I want to see what ideas organically surface and let the process come together in real time. There’s no sense in getting a bunch of talented people in a room together if you're not going to allow for creativity to take over the whole thing. Thankfully Grecco works that way too, he wants to hear different ideas, try different parts, switch up snare drums, and see where the song goes. So I think that's what you hear on these new songs, lots of cool moments that come from having the trust to experiment. 

Your music is cinematic, with deeply introspective lyrics and powerful imagery. If Into the Furious Light were the soundtrack to a film, what kind of story would it tell?

That’s such a good question. Maybe some truncated crazy version of Homer’s Odyssey? Who knows?  What I can say in all seriousness is that there is an ambivalence to these new songs that is very purposeful. The outro to Hold Fast is this repeating coda where the lyrics essentially get swallowed up by the dissonance and distortion of the music.

There is no clear resolution in a lot of ways, so whatever film we’re talking about would need to have that sort of unease associated with its story. That said, you could go the complete other direction and just dump Hold Fast into a skate video featuring lots of tremendously brutal wipeouts. That would probably work just as well.