Review #17 : The Brothers Union

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Review #17

Artist: The Brothers Union
Albums: Paper Hearts / Little Blue Room

2018 was a busy year for the two O'Reilly brothers that make up fifty percent of the alternative rock band, The Brothers Union. The four piece musical outfit released two fully produced EP’s last year, the first called “Little Blue Room” and the second called, “Paper Hearts”. Both releases were expertly produced and can be found on Spotify, as well as all other major music streaming platforms.
Starting with overall sound, one can not help but note that this band definitely understands what it is to be “alt rock”. Their musicianship captures the current atmosphere of the genre while also taking influence from artists who forced the genre’s creation in the first place. I once read somewhere that “alternative rock musicians were are just punk musicians who learned how to play their instruments”. While I’m clearly paraphrasing and this may be true in some cases, The Brothers Union is most assuredly an exception. The many layers and well thought out lyrics certainly bring adjectives such as “experienced” and “diverse” to mind.
For music fans that are unsure if they are willing to let yet another alternative rock outfit into their ear holes, here are a few  major artist comparisons I think fairly represent what I took away from these two EP’s. Vocally, I 100% think the O'Reilly brothers sound just like a combination of Mark Hoppus (Blink-182, Plus 44, Simple Creatures) and Jason Wade (Lifehouse), especially during their harmonies and dual singing parts. I feel this thought is brought out strongly in the song “Whispering Words in the Wind”, off the Paper Hearts EP. This may also the case with the guitar parts on these tracks, I can easily hear a combination of pop-punk and adult alternative riffs working together to create a more mature and polished sounding rhythm section. Finally, and bear with me on this because I have zero expertise in percussion, I also want to note that there may be some influence pulled from the atmospherics and drums found on the third Mumford & Sons album, Wilder Mind. I know it seems like I’m totally pulling these thoughts out of my ass but I’m dead serious! You should just find out for yourselves though by listening to both EP’s on your own! As I mentioned earlier, they are available everywhere.

See, you’re curious now. HA!
Anyway now that my tangent is over, these two releases combined give you a total of seven unique alternative rock tracks to listen to. Songs that I would suggest you start with are “Paper Hearts”, “Whispering Words in the Wind”, and “Other Thoughts”. I cannot say that I found one EP to be stronger than the other, but I do feel Paper Hearts sounds a bit crisper production wise.
Well, I hope my ramblings have convinced you to give The Brothers Union a chance at infiltrating your ear holes. There is talent here that deserves to be heard and shared, so check them out, and begin following them on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, and Bandcamp!

Ryan Hanratty
Frosted Green Productions



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