Los Angeles based producer duo Bright & Guilty have released their first single “Soft Age” via Rainbow Blonde Records. Straddling the intersection of psychedelic hip-hop, cinematic soundscapes, woozy synth-pop, and percussive electronica, Bright and Guilty find a unified sound that’s defined by the contrasts the group’s name implies. Bloomington-born Brian Bender and Istanbul-raised Deniz Cuylan comprise the core of Bright and Guilty and are joined on Soft Age by Obie-winning singer and avant garde composer Heather Christian.
Bright & Guilty is a two-man producer project that lays claim to the crossroads of psychedelic hip-hop, cinematic soundscapes, woozy synth-pop, and percussive electronica. But those are just labels. The Los Angeles duo is, in fact, a refraction of a storied city, a solid friendship, and a vast mountain of music knowledge. It's what happens when a pair of incredibly able technicians take a break from producing/engineering/writing/performing/editing for others and do the thing that's been waiting to break out all along. As the group's name implies, it's also about contrast, from the analog yet effects-heavy sound to the members themselves: Bloomington-born Brian Bender and Istanbul-raised Deniz Cuylan. Their collected credits stretch across films (The Mars Generation, Lemon), shows (El Chapo), ads (Nike) and albums (José James, KT Tunstall, Bing & Ruth), but Bright & Guilty sheds all expectation in favor of gut instinct and raw exploration.
Or, as Bender puts it, "We approached this as totally fucking whatever it wanted to be." Which helps explain why the music is easy on the ears but not so easy to categorize. It's tempting to invoke names like Prince Paul, Automator, and Shadow—all inspirations in their own right—but Bright + Guilty doesn't dwell in the past. It's more quantum than that, existing on a plane where Jamie xx produces the Isleys, Brainfeeder signs Broadcast, and Run the Jewels get remixed by Run-D.M.C.-era Rick Rubin. Unbound by genre, deadlines, or others' visions, Bright + Guilty go wild in Bender's Motherbrain studio—with its arsenal of analog synths, keyboards, and all of the rest—before turning their guest vocalists loose over the results. Cuylan outlines their simple but potent strategy: "Be very selective with contributors, but when you select them, set them free."
Taking its name from Orson Welles' description of L.A. as "a bright and guilty place," the project reflects the odd contradictions of its metropolis, moving between spaces both breezily upbeat and eerily disorienting. Neither of these men has ever confined himself to a sound. Cuylan grew up on guitar, idolizing Django Reinhardt, but became known for churning out dance-pop with his Portecho duo and folktronica in the band Norrda. In 2007, he wound up in New York producing an album of world-inspired indie-pop by Beck associates Brazzaville—by chance, Bender was the engineer that day. For his part, Bender wanted to be Melle Mel as a kid, though he studied classical instead while playing jazz around town. An injury forced him off double bass and into production, which led to studio jobs with Philip Glass, Russell Elevado, and The Hit Factory.
"We came from such different backgrounds but we understood each other immediately," recalls Cuylan. "We had a one-day session and we started a band together." They sealed the deal with what Bender calls a bro-date: "We went to see a bunch of studios together, had sushi, got drunk on sake, and fell in love with each other. We've been best friends since." Their math-rock group Manner didn't last but in the interim Bender built the first Motherbrain back east, in 2010, which became the headquarters for a nascent production and sound design business. Fast forward to 2017: after moving west, the guys send three films to Sundance, one to Cannes, and wrap up sound editing on El Chapo's third season—all within a year. They decide to take a month off to record whatever comes to mind. That month became three. That "whatever" became 34 songs.
Stream and buy here: rainbowblonde.co/softage
