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 observe off his upcoming fifth album – a wry and weary anthem for anybody feeling somewhat onerous 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 evening, is it so dangerous 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 dangerous 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 lightweight in the course of the wreckage.
I’ve been attempting to have a superb life
However nobody desires you to be happy
They double the invoice and break up the distinction
Go away 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 ground
I suppose you get what you pay for
“I’ve each a variety of class pleasure and a variety of class disgrace,” Dunne, a Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, member of folks rock supergroup Improbable Cat, and longtime favourite of our pages, tells Atwood Journal. “The story type of ping pongs backwards and forwards between ‘why’s it so onerous to have a superb factor?’ and ‘is it so dangerous to need a good factor?’ Which is form of what I’m at all times asking myself – once 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 onerous to have a superb factor?
It ought to be simpler you’ll suppose
You higher be wealthy and good wanting
‘Trigger it’s so onerous to have a superb factor
“Clams On line casino” is the title observe and thesis assertion of Dunne’s upcoming fifth album, out September 5th by way of Lacking Piece Data. Impressed by working-class blues and fashionable malaise, the report asks what occurs after the dream fades – when the dangerous guys have gained, and also you’re left attempting to salvage dignity, that means, and somewhat pleasure on the dinner desk.
“Total, I’m actually keen on following my technology by means of the totally different phases of life, narratively talking. The folks in these songs are the identical folks populating these songs on the final two albums – each these data are about millennial disillusionment. So this report is about what occurs after. To me, it’s in regards to the chasm between promoting out and shifting out,” Dunne says. “Ought to I keep or ought to I’m going? The everlasting query.”
I’m simply attempting to have a superb life
Clams on line casino on a Sunday evening
Betting the home on a bottle of wine
I’m simply attempting to have a superb time
Is it so dangerous 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 dangerous 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 evening
Is it so dangerous to need a good life?
Is it so dangerous to need a good life?
That rigidity is baked into each line of “Clams On line casino,” the place layered guitars, delicate synths, and a soulful vocal burn gradual and regular. Dunne opens the tune in a spot of quiet frustration: “I’ve been attempting to have a superb life / However nobody desires you to be happy / They double the invoice and break up the distinction / Go away 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 ground.”
He in the end hits his excessive within the tune’s spirited refrain – daring, buoyant, and brutally sincere: “Why’s it so onerous to have a superb factor? / It ought to be simpler, you’ll suppose / You higher be wealthy and good wanting / ‘Trigger it’s so onerous to have a superb 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 preferred.
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 may fold a variety 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 manner. I knew the second I wrote it that it was the course I wanted to go. I may simply see all of the characters taking part in out, like a film.”
She mentioned all you do is bitch and moan
You’re by no means completely satisfied and also you’re by no means house
Everybody desires what they don’t have
And you actually don’t have it half dangerous
However child I’m attempting to precise myself
You already know the physician mentioned 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 stability of humor and heaviness, irony and empathy. “I’m simply attempting to have a superb life / Clams on line casino on a Sunday evening / Betting the home on a bottle of wine / I’m simply attempting to have a superb 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 utterly 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 completely satisfied and also you’re by no means house / Everybody desires what they don’t have / And you actually don’t have it half dangerous.” It’s the type of mirror that stings – and it’s what retains this tune from collapsing beneath its personal weight.
Is it so dangerous 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 dangerous 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 evening
Is it so dangerous to need a good life?
Is it so dangerous to need a good life?
Is it so dangerous 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 data has at all times been to make folks really feel much less alone of their private struggles. However I needed to tackle an even bigger challenge on this album and the way it trickles down (no pun supposed) 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 onerous up – for that 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, based mostly on this tune, it certain sounds good. Learn our dialog beneath, and keep tuned for extra to return as Dunne continues to roll out his fifth album! Clams On line casino comes out September 5th by way of Lacking Piece Data.
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A CONVERSATION WITH BRIAN DUNNE
Atwood Journal: Brian, howdy!! 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 are 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 keen on following my technology by means of the totally different phases of life, narratively talking. The folks in these songs are the identical folks populating these songs on the final two albums – each these data are about millennial disillusionment. So this report is about what occurs after. To me, it’s in regards to the chasm between promoting out and shifting out. Ought to I keep or ought to I’m going? The everlasting query.
What is the story behind your new, tune “Clams On line casino”?
Brian Dunne: Okay effectively, I had the title sitting in my pocket book and I knew I actually preferred it. I felt like “Clams On line casino” is what a working man thinks a wealthy man eats, and I felt like I may fold a variety 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 manner. I knew the second I wrote it that it was the course I wanted to go. I may 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 a variety of class pleasure and a variety of class disgrace. The story type of ping pongs backwards and forwards between “why’s it so onerous to have a superb factor?” and “is it so dangerous to need a good factor?” Which is form of what I’m at all times asking myself- once 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 utterly 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 feel these are all very legitimate questions they usually type of mirror the present dialog about class in at the moment’s world.
How does this observe 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 special facet of sophistication and the way it influences, how we stay, the place we stay, 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 signify to you?
Brian Dunne: Clams on line casino is ok; it isn’t 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 “once I make it to the highest, I would really like a bath stuffed 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 data has at all times been to make folks really feel much less alone of their private struggles. However I needed to tackle an even bigger challenge on this album and the way it trickles down (no pun supposed) to ones private points. Catching a break on this world is almost not possible and I feel on the core of a variety 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 individuals who are simply discovering you at the moment by means of this writeup, what would you like them to learn about you and your music?
Brian Dunne: I principally make what I need to hear, as a music fan. And although I’m a large fan of a variety of modern artists, I feel due to the present state of the trade and the world, issues have gotten somewhat bourgeois for me. This report is my response to that. It’s for anybody who feels somewhat onerous up proper now.
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