Song Premiere: "California High" by Bird Streets

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez

When John Brodeur began his recording career in the early 2000s, he never imagined he would someday have his most rewarding musical experiences – working with members of Superdrag, Wilco, Big Star, and Jellyfish, artists he greatly admired – while struggling through one of the most difficult periods in his personal life. But that has thus far been the story of his project Bird Streets, whose first album was released concurrently with Brodeur’s separation from his wife of more than a decade, and whose latest, Lagoon, plays almost as a concept album about the emotional weight of divorce and regret. Released in November by newly minted Los Angeles label Sparkle Plenty, Lagoon is as personal a statement as you’re likely to hear this or any year–a rollercoaster emotional ride from “one of [the] prime architects of present-day rock” (Americana Highways), bolstered by masterful production and an array of guest appearances, including Ed Harcourt and Aimee Mann.

On June 30, Lagoon will be reissued as a deluxe digital edition with an additional eight tracks, including the Patrick Sansone produced “California High,” one of the set’s two new songs, via Sparkle Plenty / Deko Entertainment. “California High” (available this Friday) marries layers of soft-strummed acoustic guitars and some to a lyric that could either be about seasonal depression or impostor syndrome, with a bridge section that takes a surprising leap into prog-adjacent territory. Recorded in 2019 at Nashville’s famed Creative Workshop, during the first Lagoon sessions, the track finds Sansone in full multitask mode, serving as producer and mixer, plus playing bass, additional guitars, piano, vibraphone, and singing backing vocals. With pedal-steel provided by session legend Jim Hoke (Dolly Parton, Paul McCartney), the windswept folk-pop of “California High” would sit comfortably alongside Harvest-era Neil Young, America, or The Thrills. In another universe, it might have been Lagoon’s lead single, but Brodeur shelved it because “it didn’t fit the narrative. Had it been a 15-song album–which it easily could have been–this would have gone on side one.”

John Brodeur aka Bird Streets exclusive quote:
“I wrote “California High” when I was working on a film set some years back. An actress was going into a stress spiral over having two auditions on the same day as a job. I thought, “What’s the worry when you have all these opportunities?”–advice I probably should have given myself at certain points along the way. Self-doubt is a very tricky thing. The song had been hanging around for a while when I sent it to Pat (Sansone, Wilco), and it was one of the first four tunes he selected when we started work on the album. My original demo recording was very power-pop: crunchy guitars, synthesizers, big drum fills, the works. But Pat harnessed the song’s inner “Sister Golden Hair” and guided it to its soft-rock apex. I love this song and I’m thrilled to finally share it with my listeners.”

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