Jay Brannan - some preview tracks from his upcoming album 'goddamned'

I have to admit that I have never heard of Jay Brannan before today. I receive a fair few PR e-mails each day and, to be brutally honest, most of it is dross, or at the very least badly targeted (how often have you seen me write about hip hop on this site??). This one, however, caught my eye...or rather my ear. Here is what the e-mail had to say:

"Jay has never released an album in the traditional sense, but has sold out shows in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Toronto, Tel Aviv and Vancouver. The New York Times has written stories about him, The Tripwire has sung his praises and his video for the song "Housewife" is going to a Paste video of the day.

He got his break performing his song "Soda Shop" in the John Cameron Mitchell movie Shortbus. "Soda Shop" ended up being the best selling song on the soundtrack (released on Team Love Records) and a video Jay recorded of himself performing the song in his bathroom ended up getting over one million plays on Youtube. He's continued to make more videos since then and they've racked up over three million plays to date.

Jay is going to be self-releasing his first full length, goddamned, on July 1st"

I can tell you, in addition to this, that Jay comes from New York, via California (although was born in Houston, Texas) and that most of his listed influences on MySpace are female...Lisa Loeb, Ani DiFranco, Liz Phair, Tori Amos and the like. This is no coincidence...his voice is one of the most feminine male singing voices I have heard in a long time; but, strangely, I do not mean that as any sort of insult (or I really wouldn't be posting the songs here). Call me a fag hag (can a gay woman be called a fag hag?), but I really like the tunes I was sent.

It would seem, from having a bit of a look at his blog and YouTube vids, that he is indeed a YouTube phenomenon, a la Lucy In LA, or the abominable Chris Crocker. With so much crap out there, it is refreshing to see someone singing original songs and in tune! The songs are gentle, emotional, acoustic affairs. The very lack of bells and whistles is extremely appealing and gives these folksy songs an air of honesty in keeping with his direct-to-audience YouTube videos and website bio (with a little poetic licence on the latter!). The lyrics can be touchingly mundane, about washing dishes and grilling turkey burgers, and showcase a tender sense of humour.

All in all, this is one I'll definitely be watching...as, I presume, will my gayboy friends, as he's certainly easy on the eye! Have a listen for yourselves and see what you think:

At First Sight - Jay Brannan

Housewife - Jay Brannan

Half-Boyfriend - Jay Brannan

Visit Jay's website, blog, MySpace and YouTube channel.

Pre-order goddamned here (N.B. Whilst the album is available digitally from 1st July, the actual physical CD will ship 15th July - self-released on his own label Great Depression Records).

Here are those videos:

Housewife

Soda Shop