Listen: Bro. Stephen - "The Shape"

One of the markers of former Louisville based singer/songwriter Scott Kirkpatrick aka Bro. Stephen was a pervasive sense of quiet introspection, not necessarily of the melancholic sort but his debut full length Baptist Girls as an album of calm, carefully trod nostalgic reveries. There's probably a ton of factor's responsible for the change in sound in "The Shape", Kirkpatrick's triumphant comeback single but almost all of them probably stem from Kirkpatrick's relocation to the West Coast. "The Shape" is probably the most upbeat we've ever heard Bro. Stephen.

Enlisting much more than his acoustic guitar, "The Shape" functions as a delightful deviation from the barn-creaks and captured whispers of Baptist Girls without really dabbling in all the more enjoyable narrative subjects. Despite the bighter tones, Kirkpatrick is still singing of missed opportunities though filtered through the lens of his sudden long distance relationship with everything he once knew. "The Shape" is the kind of song that comes from someone who is content with the life they are leading but mindful of the path they've traveled to get there - that Kirkpatrick is singing of those he left behind instead of all his rich new possibilities both keeps in line with his established tendency towards internal inventory and grounds his new material in a relateable sheen.



Bro. Stephen's "The Shape" digital single with b-side "Gathered Up" is out June 10th on Crossroads of America but available to stream/pre-order now.

Bro. Stephen - Baptist Girls (2012)

In this age of instant gratification, it's often easy to forgot that a good record takes time to make. No more is this true than in Bro. Stephen's debut album Baptist Girls whom I discovered via We Listen For You. The brainchild of Scott Kirkpatrick, Bro. Stephen's Baptist Girls is a record about 3 years in the making.

Recorded in an old barn on someone's grandfather's farm somewhere in Indiana, the sounds of creaking wood and other space-related sounds give the record an intimacy much like Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago. And yet there's much more to Baptist Girls than barn music. Kirkpatrick offers up a devastatingly gorgeous array of harmony rich tunes that's heart-warming in it's intimacy. A charming closeness and sincerity that's often found in a remarkable few. Kirkpatrick proves a talented songwriter, not necessarily for his lyricism (which deserves come credit as well) but in his ability to craft beautiful moments that set your heart aflutter and raise goosebumps. Baptist Girls is an album lovingly stitched together with moving moments and beguiling sentimentality; one of those rare albums where hearing a single track suddenly turns into repeat listens to the album as a whole.

Bro. Stephen's Baptist Girls while a modest debut, certainly gives more established singer-songwriters a run for their money. Baptists Girls is much more than bare, soul-barring, it's an album full of lush harmonies and overwhelming earnesty - a real treat whose sole issue is that it's over much too soon.


Listen to Bro. Stephen's debut on Bandcamp or Spotify and if you like it, make sure to grab it and support good music.