Today’s song is “Swelter” by Restless Mosaic. Hailing from Seattle, Washington, the man behind the music is Brandon Isleib.
In a prior decade, Brandon dabbled in music to the point of getting a song covered by a member of the Smashing Pumpkins. Musicmaking fell by the wayside as he became a baseball columnist and book author, as well as a lawyer in the Seattle government. (He’s the only musician you’re reading about who wrote a law that gives him unique powers.)
But two meetings combined with lockdown to show Brandon he had more musical content than he realized. First was a meet-and-greet with Grammy-nominated artist BT and Christian Burns in 2019 where Brandon was the only fan who’d paid to be there. It turned into a freewheeling hour-long conversation among them. And rather than get swallowed up by the expertise, Brandon found he could contribute equally to the discussion. This surprised him and planted a seed of curiosity as to what music might be left inside.
The second was being found by chart-topping pop producers LYRE on Twitter, whose tutorial videos – and interest in Skype consultations as COVID-19 lockdown started – showed Brandon it was much easier to make the music he wanted to make than in prior years. So he started again in April 2020, with only a half-idea in his head and no assumption any more would come.
Thankfully, the years in between had honed Brandon’s intuition, and the ideas flowed freely over the next several months.
This track is one piece of that musical explosion on his album There’s Much Left to Explore. His music creates bold soundscapes with interesting electronica based around enchanting drum beats. He has made some joyful IDM electronica that paints a beautiful portrait of melding sounds.
If you’re feeling greyed by the world checkout Restless Mosaic it get some color back into your life
Listen below and for more information check out his Twitter page.