Singer/songwriter Brian Dunne confronts class, craving, and the price of wanting a ‘good life’ in “Clams On line casino,” the punchy, soul-baring title observe off his upcoming fifth album – a wry and weary anthem for anybody feeling a bit of arduous up and nonetheless chasing the American Dream.
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Stream: “Clams On line casino” – Brian Dunne
‘Trigger all I need is just a bit bit extra; is that a lot for me to ask for? And clams on line casino on a Sunday evening, is it so dangerous to desire a good life?
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Tright here’s one thing about your thirties that makes you pause and ask: Is it actually so dangerous to desire a good life?
Brian Dunne’s “Clams On line casino” feels prefer it was written for that actual second of questioning – that tug-of-war between self-critique and self-worth, between what we expect we must always have and what we’re allowed to need. It’s a track that cuts to the core of millennial disillusionment, after which retains digging – looking for sweetness within the pressure, and light-weight in the midst of the wreckage.
I’ve been attempting to have life
However nobody needs you to be happy
They double the invoice and break up the distinction
Depart you paying down the curiosity
They are saying you get what you pay for
I purchased a mattress on the low cost retailer
I really feel like I’m sleeping on a concrete flooring
I suppose you get what you pay for
“I’ve each numerous class delight and numerous class disgrace,” Dunne, a Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, member of people rock supergroup Incredible Cat, and longtime favourite of our pages, tells Atwood Journal. “The story type of ping pongs backwards and forwards between ‘why’s it so arduous to have factor?’ and ‘is it so dangerous to desire a good factor?’ Which is kind of what I’m all the time asking myself – once I can’t get what I need or want, I’m simply so existentially pissed off. After which the second I do, I begin to have imposter syndrome, questioning if I deserve this $6 espresso.”
Why’s it so arduous to have factor?
It must be simpler you’d suppose
You higher be wealthy and good wanting
‘Trigger it’s so arduous to have factor
“Clams On line casino” is the title observe and thesis assertion of Dunne’s upcoming fifth album, out September 5th by way of Lacking Piece Information. Impressed by working-class blues and fashionable malaise, the report asks what occurs after the dream fades – when the dangerous guys have gained, and also you’re left attempting to salvage dignity, which means, and a bit of pleasure on the dinner desk.
“Total, I’m actually taken with following my technology by means of the completely different phases of life, narratively talking. The individuals in these songs are the identical individuals populating these songs on the final two albums – each these information are about millennial disillusionment. So this report is about what occurs after. To me, it’s concerning the chasm between promoting out and shifting out,” Dunne says. “Ought to I keep or ought to I’m going? The everlasting query.”
I’m simply attempting to have life
Clams on line casino on a Sunday evening
Betting the home on a bottle of wine
I’m simply attempting to have time
Is it so dangerous to desire a good factor?
Don’t even let ’em catch you wanting
Don’t let ’em see you get your foot in
Is it so dangerous to desire a good factor?
‘Trigger all I need is just a bit bit extra
Is that a lot for me to ask for?
And clams on line casino on a Sunday evening
Is it so dangerous to desire a good life?
Is it so dangerous to desire a good life?
That pressure is baked into each line of “Clams On line casino,” the place layered guitars, gentle synths, and a soulful vocal burn gradual and regular. Dunne opens the track in a spot of quiet frustration: “I’ve been attempting to have life / However nobody needs you to be happy / They double the invoice and break up the distinction / Depart you paying down the curiosity.” From there, the verses spiral deeper into the on a regular basis indignities of scraping by – “I purchased a mattress on the low cost retailer / I really feel like I’m sleeping on a concrete flooring.”
He in the end hits his excessive within the track’s spirited refrain – daring, buoyant, and brutally sincere: “Why’s it so arduous to have factor? / It must be simpler, you’d suppose / You higher be wealthy and good wanting / ‘Trigger it’s so arduous to have factor.”
Dunne explains how this track got here very naturally to him – pushed by the title, which he had sitting in his pocket book for fairly a while, and all the time preferred.
The query was all the time when, not if he’d write this track. “I felt like ‘Clams On line casino’ is what a working man thinks a wealthy man eats, and I felt like I might fold numerous story into that,” he shares. “This one got here fairly simple to me – the themes on this track have been consuming at me in a very aggravating means. I knew the second I wrote it that it was the route I wanted to go. I might simply see all of the characters enjoying out, like a film.”
She mentioned all you do is bitch and moan
You’re by no means joyful and also you’re by no means dwelling
Everybody needs what they don’t have
And you actually don’t have it half dangerous
However child I’m attempting to precise myself
You recognize the physician mentioned it’d assist
If I can launch a few of this pressure
If I could make peace with this query
Dunne’s brilliance lies in his stability of humor and heaviness, irony and empathy. “I’m simply attempting to have life / Clams on line casino on a Sunday evening / Betting the home on a bottle of wine / I’m simply attempting to have time.” The imagery is wealthy and cinematic – a bit of absurd, a bit of tragic, and all too actual. Whether or not he’s dreaming of tiny luxuries or calling himself out mid-song, there’s a vulnerability right here that makes the entire thing hit tougher.
“The final verse is my favourite,” Dunne says. “A second character enters and eviscerates the argument as utterly self-involved and ineffective.” She cuts by means of the noise with biting readability: “All you do is bitch and moan / You’re by no means joyful and also you’re by no means dwelling / Everybody needs what they don’t have / And you actually don’t have it half dangerous.” It’s the type of mirror that stings – and it’s what retains this track from collapsing beneath its personal weight.
Is it so dangerous to desire a good factor?
Don’t even let ’em catch you wanting
Don’t let ’em see you get your foot in
Is it so dangerous to desire a good factor?
‘Trigger all I need is just a bit bit extra
Is that a lot for me to ask for?
And clams on line casino on a Sunday evening
Is it so dangerous to desire a good life?
Is it so dangerous to desire a good life?
Is it so dangerous to desire a good life?
If Dunne’s final album, 2023’s Loser on the Ropes, was about nonetheless being within the struggle, then Clams On line casino is what occurs when the ultimate bell rings and also you’re left selecting up the items.
And but, there’s hope right here – not low-cost optimism, however hardened grace. “My intention for all my information has all the time been to make individuals really feel much less alone of their private struggles. However I wished to tackle a much bigger problem on this album and the way it trickles down (no pun meant) to 1’s private points. Catching a break on this world is almost not possible,” Dunne says. “There’s a humiliation of riches on our planet and so they’re being hoarded by a bunch of lottery winners who don’t even know what they’ve.”
For anybody feeling a bit of arduous up – for which means, cash, or a second of peace – “Clams On line casino” is a mirror and a balm. Dunne could also be calling himself out, however in doing so, he’s calling all of us in. And whereas I’ve by no means had clams on line casino, primarily based on this track, it positive sounds good. Learn our dialog under, and keep tuned for extra to return as Dunne continues to roll out his fifth album! Clams On line casino comes out September 5th by way of Lacking Piece Information.
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A CONVERSATION WITH BRIAN DUNNE
Atwood Journal: Brian, whats up!! First “Play the Hits,” a track about getting older, and now “Clams On line casino, ” an ode to la dolce vida – or chasing la dolce vida. Your songs are actually talking to my 30-something-year-old mind. Are you able to share a bit about your personal headspace these days and the place you’re feeling this newest batch of tunes is coming from, for you – particularly following Promoting Issues and Loser on the Ropes?
Brian Dunne: Hey Mitch, thanks for saying that. I’d say that total, I’m actually taken with following my technology by means of the completely different phases of life, narratively talking. The individuals in these songs are the identical individuals populating these songs on the final two albums – each these information are about millennial disillusionment. So this report is about what occurs after. To me, it’s concerning the chasm between promoting out and shifting out. Ought to I keep or ought to I’m going? The everlasting query.
What is the story behind your new, track “Clams On line casino”?
Brian Dunne: Okay nicely, I had the title sitting in my pocket book and I knew I actually preferred it. I felt like “Clams On line casino” is what a working man thinks a wealthy man eats, and I felt like I might fold numerous story into that. This one got here fairly simple to me- the themes on this track have been consuming at me in a very aggravating means. I knew the second I wrote it that it was the route I wanted to go. I might simply see all of the characters enjoying out, like a film.
And what’s this track about, personally, for you?
Brian Dunne: I grew up in a brilliant working-class household, and I’ve each numerous class delight and numerous class disgrace. The story type of ping pongs backwards and forwards between “why’s it so arduous to have factor?” and “is it so dangerous to desire a good factor?” Which is kind of what I’m all the time asking myself- once I can’t get what I need or want, I’m simply so existentially pissed off. After which the second I do, I begin to have imposter syndrome, questioning if I deserve this $6 espresso.
However my favourite factor about this track is the final verse, the place a second character enters and eviscerates the argument as utterly self-involved and ineffective. Am I illustrating the finer factors of the category struggle in America, or do I simply need what I don’t have? Do I simply need an invitation to a celebration I’m not invited to? I believe these are all very legitimate questions and so they type of mirror the present dialog about class in at this time’s world.
How does this observe match into the general narrative of your upcoming fourth album, Clams On line casino?
Brian Dunne: It’s the thesis, for positive. Each track after it digs into a distinct facet of sophistication and the way it influences, how we stay, the place we stay, who will get to proceed to chase their goals and who has to pack it in and transfer again to suburban Ohio, ya know? And most of it facilities across the dinner desk; who has sufficient to eat and who doesn’t.
Now, I’ve realized that I do not suppose I’ve ever had clams on line casino… have you ever? What do they style like? And extra importantly, what does this meal signify to you?
Brian Dunne: Clams on line casino is okay; it isn’t my favourite preparation of the clam. BUT that’s the purpose. It’s not that good, it’s simply that I need it as a result of I can’t afford to have it. It’s like saying “once I make it to the highest, I would love a bath filled with champagne.”
What do you hope listeners take away from “Clams On line casino,” and what have you ever taken away from creating it and now placing it out?
Brian Dunne: My intention for all my information has all the time been to make individuals really feel much less alone of their private struggles. However I wished to tackle a much bigger problem on this album and the way it trickles down (no pun meant) to ones private points. Catching a break on this world is almost not possible and I believe on the core of numerous inner struggles is the unhappy undeniable fact that there’s a humiliation of riches on our planet and so they’re being hoarded by a bunch of lottery winners who don’t even know what they’ve.
For individuals who are simply discovering you at this time by means of this writeup, what would you like them to learn about you and your music?
Brian Dunne: I principally make what I wish to hear, as a music fan. And although I’m an enormous fan of numerous up to date artists, I believe due to the present state of the business and the world, issues have gotten a bit of bourgeois for me. This report is my response to that. It’s for anybody who feels a bit of arduous up proper now.
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