Buzz Blog

Brent Colbert, the man behind The Awful Truth, talks about a few tunes off of the new album, Birthright---

The CD release show will be Saturday, Aug. 4, at The Urban Lounge (241 S. 500 East, 9 p.m.; $5).

The Awful Truth landed in Salt Lake City a few years back by way of Idaho and Illinois. And he has graced stages as both a solo acoustic act and a full band -- now its current lineup includes locals Sam Burton, Nick Neihart and Cathy Foy. Colbert has released one lo-fi record, Object Impermanence, and got this new CD off the ground with a Kickstarter campaign. The new 11-song-record release will coincide with a Northwest tour -- the band’s first -- in the fall. Birthright’s first single, “New Day” was released as a video on the KickStarter site (watch it here; listen below); it demonstrates the emotive power of thoughtful, sparse, folk music.

The Awful Truth was also selected as part of City Weekly’s ongoing 12 for ‘12 series to showcase emerging local bands this year.

Colbert discusses a few tracks. You can stream the entire album here.

“New Day”

This song is about persistence -- and being humbled. Each day is new, each day is different. Tracking this song came together before we had even rehearsed it together. Mike Sasich put a guitar line on the end, making this song feel like some sort of space-country song. This record was made with persistence; we tracked a couple of times a month for about five months, jumping around schedules. It was a calm process, working with a handful of my favorite people. Everything built and solidified throughout the process of tracking with a lot of time to think about how the songs should be.

“Summit”

This song feels more and more like a dream to me every time I play it. “Summit,” as well as a handful of songs on Birthright, are influenced by my time I have spent living in Utah. There is so much strength and symbolism in the mountains in Utah, for me at least. This song slowly developed while I was writing other songs and ended up being the last one we tracked. It feels very natural to me. Our friend Shenandoah Davis sang, blessing this track with angelic harmonies. I've always enjoyed the view from the summit.

“Birthright”

Sometimes things are going just as they should be. Realizing this can be terrifying. I wrote this song as a follow up to the song before it on the record, "Sanctuary." 'Sanctuary" is one of the older ones on this record. I would play that song and there seemed to be a lot of heavy emotion I was putting out every time I played it. Birthright is finishing that thought -- truly a stream of consciousness about letting go of the feelings I poured into things like "Sanctuary," and replacing them with a different opinion on fate, if that makes any sense at all. “The birthright was there, you just couldn't see where.” It's the most upbeat song you will find by The Awful Truth.

You can lose your sanctuary, but it won't change your birthright.