The older I get, the more introspective I become. I’m not interested in a cliched mid-life crisis like buying a flashy sports car or making terrible life choices that ruin the life I built. I’m much more interested in staying in therapy so I can better myself and make even better choices. I don’t want to accelerate a car. I want to accelerate setting a good example for my kid, and maybe leaving this world a better place.
So, when Andrew Bryant opened “Reality Winner” with this couplet, I felt it in my gut.
“What is this feeling that I have
Like I’m caught between the here and the now?
Just some shitty midlife crisis
That would bore even the steadiest crowd?”
Located halfway through his new self-released solo album, that lyric encapsulated the mood and tone of my own inner monologue. Entitled A Meaningful Connection, the former member of Water Liars has created 11 taut indie rocks songs bursting at the seams with ‘70s folk-pop flair. He mixed the gravelly baritone of Bill Callahan with the poetic juices of Jeff Tweedy and post-evangelical confessions of David Bazan. In other words, it spoke directly into my soul.
Bryant fused earnest lyricism with zippy chord changes to deliver a one-two punch of gutsy songwriting. I felt his frustration with the world around him. Not only did he hope for more from his life, but he also talked about how change must happen before things get better. He sang about how the old answers don’t help any more and directly contributed to the mess we’re in now.
To be clear, Andrew Bryant refused to indulge in mere navel-gazing.
Sure, he bemoaned the fact that he hadn’t done anything himself yet. However, his songs showcased someone interested in finding solutions to the problems of the world, but he had to fix his own shit first.
I instantly connected with the strolling pace and world-weary vocals of “Private Window,” especially when Bryant dropped the line, “While your lover is dreaming / You are waking to that blue bird song.” With “Spiritual Genocide,” the energy picked up, thanks to a driving acoustic guitar and thrumming bass work, but the emotional desperation of the bridge passage floored me:
“My sister called and said you’re not well.
You’re in the ICU, your kidneys have failed.
I take a breathe and let out a sigh.
Grab my keys to the car and go for a drive.”
Featuring only a mournful acoustic guitar and violin, “Drink the Pain Away” found Bryant struggling with his sobriety and the details of real life, especially when he breathed the line, “I guess I never really learned how to let go of the truth for a lie.” The thematic follow-up and effective album finale, “Truth Ain’t Hard to Find” offered Bryant a way out of his malaise, complete with this stunner: “I hear it takes a stronger soul to build a stronger mind / Like how a verse is just a verse until you sing it twice.”
Call it strength in simplicity. Apart from some pedal steel and organ, Bryant played nearly every single note of this album. He made meaningful choices about the instrumentation and arrangements. The classic guitar-bass-drums format matched well with the honest storytelling. That stripped-down approach complemented the clean guitar licks and bright production. He knew exactly when to add crunch to the guitars while also allowing brisk drumming and robust bass work to shine.
In short, A Meaningful Connection delivered absolutely relatable dad rock when I needed it most.
Andrew Bryant nailed the aesthetic perfectly, right down to the cover image of the exasperated husband lying in bed doom-scrolling on Twitter while his patient wife asks him to put down the phone and go to sleep. But sometimes, it’s hard to do that when you’re a concerned parent who’s pissed off about life and wants to help create a better world for your children and the rest of humanity.
The album featured spiritual yearning atop deep existential queries, and I immediately connected with his material and delivery. However, Bryant didn’t provide any specific answers, but I also didn’t expect him to – and I would have thought less of him had he made the attempt. Instead, he resolved to work through his own problems with intellectual and emotional honesty so that he could create positive changes in his life. Sometimes you need to fix what’s wrong in your immediate circumstances before you can have any hope of impacting the wider world around you.