There’s something to be said for variety on an album. While a nice cohesive record that follows one general sound from front to finish is fine, it’s also nice to listen to an artist explore a few different sounds and styles on an album. It makes for a satisfying, interesting listen. Folk rock artist Briget Boyle is no slouch when it comes to songwriting, and she’s been busy showing off that versatility on her recent singles. That versatility extends to her second album, The Next Line. We’re thrilled to premiere The Next Line here this afternoon.
Boyle is an extremely gifted guitar player and folk writer, and those skills are on display in their purest forms throughout The Next Line. The album opens with “Magic Trick,” a mellow track that Boyle floats through with soothing precision. Boyle doesn’t just stay in that acoustic realm, though. She’s equally at home playing in electric guitar, which shows up often on The Next Line. You would hardly think the coarseness and griminess of a track like “Who Are We To Blame?” would come from the same artist as some of the folksier tracks, but Boyle’s lyrical content and musical talent pulls all the different sounds and subject matters into a singular package that works. Each of the 11 tracks The Next Line holds a new sound or idea that serves to surprise and entrance listeners. Taken as a whole, The Next Line is a thoroughly fascinating and gripping listen from Boyle.
Boyle gave us an in-depth look into the creation of The Next Line. She explains:
I started working on The Next Line in early 2017. After approaching producer Mike Shiono about coming on board for the project, I buckled down and started working hard on the new collection of music I had written since the completion of my first album ‘The Parts Interior.’ Mike and I met up a few times to talk through the tunes and make a game plan for the recording and he reached out to his community of studio players to put together the stellar line-up of players that were to join us in the studio. As we were laying the music down in February of 2018, it started to become clear that ‘The Next Line’ was going to be a rock record, which is something that I had been dreaming of from my early days of songwriting. The big sound, with dynamics, grit, and edge, started to present itself during tracking. I left every session feeling excited and energized by what we were discovering and it has taken all my strength to sit on the completed music. I am so excited to share this project with the world!
My top tracks on the record, the ones that really surprised me are “Magic Trick,” “Salty Tears,” “Keep It Simple,” and “Middle We Meet.” It’s ironic because all of these were either not going to make it on the record, or they sounded totally different in their original form. The process of recording these tracks really made me grow as an artist. They pushed me and I gave them the time they needed so that they could transform into what they ended up being.
Listen to Briget Boyle’s new album The Next Line below.
