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 a little bit onerous up and nonetheless chasing the American Dream.
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Stream: “Clams On line casino” – Brian Dunne
‘Trigger all I would like is just a bit bit extra; is that a lot for me to ask for? And clams on line casino on a Sunday night time, is it so unhealthy to desire 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 unhealthy to desire a good life?
Brian Dunne’s “Clams On line casino” feels prefer it was written for that precise second of questioning – that tug-of-war between self-critique and self-worth, between what we expect we should always have and what we’re allowed to need. It’s a track that cuts to the core of millennial disillusionment, after which retains digging – looking for sweetness within the pressure, and lightweight in the course of the wreckage.
I’ve been attempting to have life
However nobody needs you to be glad
They double the invoice and cut 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 flooring
I assume you get what you pay for
“I’ve each quite a lot of class pleasure and quite a lot 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 form of ping pongs forwards and backwards between ‘why’s it so onerous to have factor?’ and ‘is it so unhealthy to desire a good factor?’ Which is type of what I’m at all times asking myself – once I can’t get what I would like 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 factor?
It ought to be simpler you’d suppose
You higher be wealthy and good trying
‘Trigger it’s so onerous to have factor
“Clams On line casino” is the title observe and thesis assertion of Dunne’s upcoming fifth album, out September 5th through Lacking Piece Data. Impressed by working-class blues and fashionable malaise, the report asks what occurs after the dream fades – when the unhealthy guys have gained, and also you’re left attempting to salvage dignity, which means, and a little bit pleasure on the dinner desk.
“Total, I’m actually desirous about following my technology by way 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 concerning the chasm between promoting out and transferring out,” Dunne says. “Ought to I keep or ought to I am going? The everlasting query.”
I’m simply attempting to have life
Clams on line casino on a Sunday night time
Betting the home on a bottle of wine
I’m simply attempting to have time
Is it so unhealthy to desire a good factor?
Don’t even let ’em catch you trying
Don’t let ’em see you get your foot in
Is it so unhealthy to desire a good factor?
‘Trigger all I would like is just a bit bit extra
Is that a lot for me to ask for?
And clams on line casino on a Sunday night time
Is it so unhealthy to desire a good life?
Is it so unhealthy to desire a good life?
That pressure is baked into each line of “Clams On line casino,” the place layered guitars, gentle synths, and a soulful vocal burn sluggish and regular. Dunne opens the track in a spot of quiet frustration: “I’ve been attempting to have life / However nobody needs you to be glad / They double the invoice and cut 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 flooring.”
He in the end hits his excessive within the track’s spirited refrain – daring, buoyant, and brutally sincere: “Why’s it so onerous to have factor? / It ought to be simpler, you’d suppose / You higher be wealthy and good trying / ‘Trigger it’s so onerous to have factor.”
Dunne explains how this track 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 appreciated.
The query was at all times when, not if he’d write this track. “I felt like ‘Clams On line casino’ is what a working man thinks a wealthy man eats, and I felt like I may fold quite a lot of story into that,” he shares. “This one got here fairly simple to me – the topics on this track have been consuming at me in a very aggravating manner. I knew the second I wrote it that it was the route I wanted to go. I may simply see all of the characters taking part in out, like a film.”
She stated all you do is bitch and moan
You’re by no means pleased and also you’re by no means dwelling
Everybody needs what they don’t have
And you actually don’t have it half unhealthy
However child I’m attempting to specific myself
the physician stated it would assist
If I can launch a few of this pressure
If I could make peace with this query
Dunne’s brilliance lies in his steadiness of humor and heaviness, irony and empathy. “I’m simply attempting to have life / Clams on line casino on a Sunday night time / Betting the home on a bottle of wine / I’m simply attempting to have time.” The imagery is wealthy and cinematic – a little bit absurd, a little bit 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 more durable.
“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 way of the noise with biting readability: “All you do is bitch and moan / You’re by no means pleased and also you’re by no means dwelling / Everybody needs what they don’t have / And you actually don’t have it half unhealthy.” It’s the form of mirror that stings – and it’s what retains this track from collapsing underneath its personal weight.
Is it so unhealthy to desire a good factor?
Don’t even let ’em catch you trying
Don’t let ’em see you get your foot in
Is it so unhealthy to desire a good factor?
‘Trigger all I would like is just a bit bit extra
Is that a lot for me to ask for?
And clams on line casino on a Sunday night time
Is it so unhealthy to desire a good life?
Is it so unhealthy to desire a good life?
Is it so unhealthy to desire 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 choosing 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 wished to tackle a much bigger difficulty on this album and the way it trickles down (no pun meant) to at least one’s private points. Catching a break on this world is almost unimaginable,” 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 a little bit onerous up – for which 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, primarily based on this track, 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 through Lacking Piece Data.
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A CONVERSATION WITH BRIAN DUNNE
Atwood Journal: Brian, hey!! First “Play the Hits,” a track about getting older, and now “Clams On line casino, ” an ode to la dolce vida – or chasing la dolce vida. Your songs are actually talking to my 30-something-year-old mind. Are you able to share a bit about your personal headspace these days and the place you’re 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 desirous about following my technology by way 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 concerning the chasm between promoting out and transferring out. Ought to I keep or ought to I am going? The everlasting query.
What is the story behind your new, track “Clams On line casino”?
Brian Dunne: Okay properly, I had the title sitting in my pocket book and I knew I actually appreciated 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 quite a lot of story into that. This one got here fairly simple to me- the topics on this track have been consuming at me in a very aggravating manner. I knew the second I wrote it that it was the route I wanted to go. I may simply see all of the characters taking part in out, like a film.
And what’s this track about, personally, for you?
Brian Dunne: I grew up in a brilliant working-class household, and I’ve each quite a lot of class pleasure and quite a lot of class disgrace. The story form of ping pongs forwards and backwards between “why’s it so onerous to have factor?” and “is it so unhealthy to desire a good factor?” Which is type of what I’m at all times asking myself- once I can’t get what I would like 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 track 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 struggle 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 believe these are all very legitimate questions they usually form of replicate the present dialog about class in as we speak’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 track after it digs into a distinct side of sophistication and the way it influences, how we reside, the place we reside, 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’s not my favourite preparation of the clam. BUT that’s the purpose. It’s not that good, it’s simply that I would like 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 tub filled 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 wished to tackle a much bigger difficulty on this album and the way it trickles down (no pun meant) to ones private points. Catching a break on this world is almost unimaginable and I believe on the core of quite a lot of inside struggles is the unhappy indisputable 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 as we speak by way of this writeup, what would you like them to learn about you and your music?
Brian Dunne: I largely make what I need to hear, as a music fan. And although I’m an enormous fan of quite a lot of up to date artists, I believe due to the present state of the business and the world, issues have gotten a little bit bourgeois for me. This report is my response to that. It’s for anybody who feels a little bit onerous up proper now.
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