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 monitor off his upcoming fifth album – a wry and weary anthem for anybody feeling somewhat laborious 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 night time, is it so unhealthy to need 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 unhealthy to need 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 tune that cuts to the core of millennial disillusionment, after which retains digging – looking for sweetness within the rigidity, and light-weight in the course of the wreckage.
I’ve been making an attempt to have an excellent life
However nobody needs you to be happy
They double the invoice and cut 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 assume you get what you pay for
“I’ve each quite a lot of class delight and quite a lot of class disgrace,” Dunne, a Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, member of folks rock supergroup Incredible Cat, and longtime favourite of our pages, tells Atwood Journal. “The story form of ping pongs forwards and backwards between ‘why’s it so laborious to have an excellent factor?’ and ‘is it so unhealthy to need a good factor?’ Which is form of what I’m at all times asking myself – after 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 laborious to have an excellent factor?
It ought to be simpler you’ll suppose
You higher be wealthy and good wanting
‘Trigger it’s so laborious to have an excellent factor
“Clams On line casino” is the title monitor and thesis assertion of Dunne’s upcoming fifth album, out September 5th through Lacking Piece Information. Impressed by working-class blues and fashionable malaise, the report asks what occurs after the dream fades – when the unhealthy guys have received, and also you’re left making an attempt to salvage dignity, which means, and somewhat pleasure on the dinner desk.
“General, I’m actually interested by following my era 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 am going? The everlasting query.”
I’m simply making an attempt to have an excellent life
Clams on line casino on a Sunday night time
Betting the home on a bottle of wine
I’m simply making an attempt to have an excellent time
Is it so unhealthy to need a good factor?
Don’t even let ’em catch you wanting
Don’t let ’em see you get your foot in
Is it so unhealthy to need 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 night time
Is it so unhealthy to need a good life?
Is it so unhealthy to need a good life?
That rigidity is baked into each line of “Clams On line casino,” the place layered guitars, gentle synths, and a soulful vocal burn sluggish and regular. Dunne opens the tune in a spot of quiet frustration: “I’ve been making an attempt to have an excellent life / However nobody needs you to be happy / They double the invoice and cut 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 tune’s spirited refrain – daring, buoyant, and brutally sincere: “Why’s it so laborious to have an excellent factor? / It ought to be simpler, you’ll suppose / You higher be wealthy and good wanting / ‘Trigger it’s so laborious to have an excellent factor.”
Dunne explains how this tune got here very naturally to him – pushed by the title, which he had sitting in his pocket book for fairly a while, and at all times favored.
The query was at all times when, not if he’d write this tune. “I felt like ‘Clams On line casino’ is what a working man thinks a wealthy man eats, and I felt like I might fold quite a lot of story into that,” he shares. “This one got here fairly simple to me – the topics on this tune had been consuming at me in a very aggravating means. I knew the second I wrote it that it was the course I wanted to go. I might simply see all of the characters taking part in out, like a film.”
She stated all you do is bitch and moan
You’re by no means pleased and also you’re by no means dwelling
Everybody needs what they don’t have
And you actually don’t have it half unhealthy
However child I’m making an attempt to precise myself
You understand the physician stated it would assist
If I can launch a few of this rigidity
If I could make peace with this query
Dunne’s brilliance lies in his steadiness of humor and heaviness, irony and empathy. “I’m simply making an attempt to have an excellent life / Clams on line casino on a Sunday night time / Betting the home on a bottle of wine / I’m simply making an attempt to have an excellent time.” The imagery is wealthy and cinematic – somewhat absurd, somewhat 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 fully 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 pleased and also you’re by no means dwelling / Everybody needs what they don’t have / And you actually don’t have it half unhealthy.” It’s the form of mirror that stings – and it’s what retains this tune from collapsing underneath its personal weight.
Is it so unhealthy to need a good factor?
Don’t even let ’em catch you wanting
Don’t let ’em see you get your foot in
Is it so unhealthy to need 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 night time
Is it so unhealthy to need a good life?
Is it so unhealthy to need a good life?
Is it so unhealthy to need a good life?
If Dunne’s final album, 2023’s Loser on the Ropes, was about nonetheless being within the battle, 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 at all times been to make individuals really feel much less alone of their private struggles. However I wished to tackle a much bigger situation 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 they usually’re being hoarded by a bunch of lottery winners who don’t even know what they’ve.”
For anybody feeling somewhat laborious 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 tune, it certain sounds good. Learn our dialog beneath, and keep tuned for extra to come back as Dunne continues to roll out his fifth album! Clams On line casino comes out September 5th through Lacking Piece Information.
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A CONVERSATION WITH BRIAN DUNNE
Atwood Journal: Brian, good day!! First “Play the Hits,” a tune about getting older, and now “Clams On line casino, ” an ode to la dolce vida – or chasing la dolce vida. Your songs are actually chatting with my 30-something-year-old mind. Are you able to share a bit about your individual 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 general, I’m actually interested by following my era 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 am going? The everlasting query.
What is the story behind your new, tune “Clams On line casino”?
Brian Dunne: Okay nicely, I had the title sitting in my pocket book and I knew I actually favored 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 quite a lot of story into that. This one got here fairly simple to me- the topics on this tune had been consuming at me in a very aggravating means. I knew the second I wrote it that it was the course I wanted to go. I might simply see all of the characters taking part in out, like a film.
And what’s this tune about, personally, for you?
Brian Dunne: I grew up in a brilliant working-class household, and I’ve each quite a lot of class delight and quite a lot of class disgrace. The story form of ping pongs forwards and backwards between “why’s it so laborious to have an excellent factor?” and “is it so unhealthy to need a good factor?” Which is form of what I’m at all times asking myself- after 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 tune is the final verse, the place a second character enters and eviscerates the argument as fully self-involved and ineffective. Am I illustrating the finer factors of the category battle 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 they usually form of mirror the present dialog about class in right now’s world.
How does this monitor match into the general narrative of your upcoming fourth album, Clams On line casino?
Brian Dunne: It’s the thesis, for certain. Each tune after it digs into a unique side of sophistication and the way it influences, how we reside, the place we reside, who will get to proceed to chase their desires 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 characterize to you?
Brian Dunne: Clams on line casino is okay; it’s not 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 “after I make it to the highest, I would love a tub 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 at all times been to make individuals really feel much less alone of their private struggles. However I wished to tackle a much bigger situation 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 quite a lot of inside struggles is the unhappy proven fact that there’s a humiliation of riches on our planet they usually’re being hoarded by a bunch of lottery winners who don’t even know what they’ve.
For many who are simply discovering you right now by means of this writeup, what would you like them to find out about you and your music?
Brian Dunne: I largely make what I wish to hear, as a music fan. And although I’m a large fan of quite a lot of modern artists, I believe due to the present state of the business and the world, issues have gotten somewhat bourgeois for me. This report is my response to that. It’s for anybody who feels somewhat laborious up proper now.
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