Interview: brother sundance
Here’s the thing. If you have listened to brother sundance before, then you already know there is no tolerance for falsities in the words he writes. Lyrically-intricate tracks that ride heavy, grooving melodies make brother sundance a stand-out artist who simply has no reason to side-step the truth. This past week, Rylan Talerico (who goes by brother sundance) released his latest single “Text You Back” with the genre-bending, pop/hip-hop artist Bryce Vine. Paired with a simplistic, desert joyride music video, the new single adds to brother sundance’s already impressive collection of work. I got to chat with the fellow 22-year old about his brand new single “Text You Back” (featuring Bryce Vine), his teen punk days in South Florida, and the brutal perspective reset that 2020 gave him.
Photo by Brian Ziff
“Text You Back” is the angsty summer track you didn’t know you needed. In typical brother sundance fashion, the new single is here to give us all the moodiness and weighty drum loops we could have ever hoped for. Inspiration for his new song actually struck in a very literal way one day at the studio. It turns out brother sundance is one of those people with hundreds of unread text messages sitting on his phone (granted, it’s probably a bit hard to get back to people when you’re a 22 year old artist effortlessly taking over the music world) and on that day in the studio, he was pretty sick of the message notifications.
“I will never forget this moment. I was in front of the microphone at the studio with no idea what to sing. Then my manager texts me, and I wasn’t in the best mood, and I thought ‘I’m not texting that guy back’. And that’s when I realized— I never text anyone back! And that kind of jump started the idea for this song.”
It really comes as no surprise that brother sundance’s creative process is blatantly honest. After releasing his self-produced debut EP Honey in August 2017, he received endless industry praise, quickly making a name for himself as a ridiculously talented, self-motivated performer, writer, and producer. In only the first week of Honey’s debut, brother sundance was featured on Apple Music’s New Artist of the Week and was later featured on Elton John’s “Rocket Hour” on Beats 1. The streaming success of “Blind” off of brother sundance’s Honey EP landed him a spot at Radio 104.5’s 2017 Endless Summer Show in Philadelphia and, soon after, he made an appearance at Riptide Music Festival supporting mega-artists like Cage the Elephant and Weezer.
In a whirlwind of early career success, brother sundance had everything coming up roses. He was already on the road touring by 18 years old and was wracking up millions of streams on Spotify with songs like “Monsters” and “Blind”. However, the quick rise to fame was daunting to the South Florida-native. In an overwhelming wave of live shows and music releases, brother sundance felt the weight of his closest relationships tearing at the seams.
“It was a very dark time for me. I look back at that period and see it as a depressed, heavy, lost time period. And then the pandemic made it so much worse. It broke me, but that needed to happen. Without that time, I wouldn’t have figured out what I really needed to focus on and prioritize.”
The broody, anti-pop singer/songwriter released his EP “I HURT YOU, I MADE THIS” in September of last year, proving he was willing to bare-all in emotionally-charged pieces like “NIGHTMARES” and “BURN”, which have amassed millions of streams in only a few short months. Coming off a tumultuous 2020, brother sundance brings us “Text You Back” as the perfect, summer-recovery anthem to add to brother sundance’s music collection as his first release of 2021.
The unfiltered, energetic verses fittingly pair with the laid-back, simplistic music video for “Text You Back”, which features brother sundance and Bryce Vine cruising through the desert in a drop-top Buick. The vintage, road-trip visual brings us a casual approach to the lyrically-intricate single, an artistic balance brother sundance strives to achieve in all of his music releases.
“Text You Back” music video (pictured) brother sundance and Bryce Vine
While 2020 proved to be an emotionally grueling few months, brother sundance sees it as a time period he was able to grow and build himself back from the ground up. In fact, I don’t think the smile left his face for one moment on our Zoom call as he excitedly described his new single release and teased upcoming projects.
brother sundance is one of those artists that sneaks up on you. You don’t even realize you’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of his authentic, ‘rip-the-bandaid-off’ music until you’re playing “NIGHTMARES” and “HOLLYWOOD” on repeat for the tenth time in one hour. There is no doubt the 22 year old’s upcoming music releases will continue to prove his place as a dynamic writer, singer, and producer.
You can listen to brother sundance’s latest single with Bryce Vine “Text You Back” on Spotify here. Be sure to follow brother sundance on Instagram, Twitter, and his website to keep up with his other music releases that are right around the corner.
Interview by Kelly Carrazzone
