I stumbled across the music of Jay Brannan a few months ago because Last.Fm recommended him as a 'similar artist' to Dangerous Muse.Brannan's material is decent singer-songwriter stuff. His voice is nice and, even if the lyrics are a little twee sometimes, the songs are well put together.
There's no two ways about it though: the most interesting thing about Jay Brannan's music is the fact that he is a man singing love-songs about other men. I suspect this is why Last.FM deemed him to be 'similar' to Dangerous Muse because the artists' homosexuality is the only obvious connection. Their musical output couldn't be more different.
I guess Jay should be applauded for not trying to 'neutralise' his lyrics like Will Young or Wallis Bird tend to. I can't help feel that, in doing this, he limits his appeal to a predominantly gay audience though. The popularity of 'I Kissed A Girl' an 'If You Seek Amy' suggest that there might be a reasonably wide audience for an attractive, overtly gay female musician but I suspect this probably wouldn't extend to men.
Brannan is coming to play the Crawdaddy in May and I'm toying with the idea of going. Tickets are only €12/€15 and, based on the clips on his youtube channel, I reckon he'd turn in a decent live set.
Anyone fancy it?
[Image: Tow Le Road]
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