Ariel Publicity

NYC-based recording artist John Brodeur took eight years to release his second solo album, "Get Through." Why the long wait? His vague explanation: “It was supposed to come out years ago, but it didn’t.”

The reasons behind the delay aren’t quite that simple, but the basic story is this: Brodeur began recording "Get Through" in 2004, with the help of the Suggestions(bassist Keith Hosmer and drummer Jason Schultz, who appear on seven of the album’s 12 tracks). Shortly into the process, band members scattered for various reasons, and financial backing fell through. Brodeur finished the album on his own, but left with no funding and no band, he moved his music to the back burner.

“I pushed myself on everyone for so many years and I needed a break,” he says, “so I joined a few of my friends’ bands on drums to keep busy.” A few bands turned into five and soon Brodeur was performing almost every night of the week, in addition to recording and producing with other artists. But his own music never left his mind.

Unlike "Tiger Pop," Brodeur’s dial-spinning first record, "Get Through" is a more modern-sounding collection of songs about, as one title sums it up, “Love and Misery.” “[Tiger Pop] was a manifesto,” says Brodeur. “It was all over the map because those were the sounds in my head at the time. . . . I was saying ‘Hey, look what I can do.’ This one was intended to be a band record—something that was easier to connect to, and to re-create live.”

But even in the early stages of recording it was clear this wouldn’t be a traditional “band” record. “By the end of the first four days I had already put my hands on everything in the studio. The guys basically got a free vacation while Pete (Donnelly, recording engineer) helped me build my little castle.” The resulting album follows the creative and sonic mold set out by Brodeur’s previous releases. Lyrical themes—of depression, rejection, broken love—are set to generally bright tones, creating, as one writer put it, “a juicy dichotomy that begs for repeated listens.”

Now that Brodeur’s got the bug again, he plans to make up for lost time: Several releases are planned, including another solo album, "Little Hopes," due in summer 2010, and a series of online-only EPs (including this Halloween's covers EP, "Slutty Nurse"). But Brodeur’s first priority is supporting "Get Through." “I can’t move on to something else before putting this out there.

This album has been a roadblock, a detour, and ultimately a self-fulfilling prophecy. It’s a back-against-the-wall record with a built-in exit strategy. As the title track goes, “If it’s all that you can do, just get through.” And now Get Through, as the title aptly implies, will finally get through to music fans.

John has shared stages with Fountains of Wayne, They Might Be Giants, TV On The Radio, 311, the Nightwatchman, Gavin Degraw, O.A.R., Rooney, Glenn Tilbrook, Shiny Toy Guns, the Bravery, Freedy Johnston, David Poe, and dozens more.