For those of you not in the know, Brian Woodbury will be releasing Rhapsody & Filigree, the 4th and final volume of the “Anthems & Antithets” series on July 25, 2022.

Brian Woodbury is a songwriter who straddles the Avant-Pop Theater/Comedy divide. His eclecticism ranges from writing Disney cartoon themes and children’s TV songs, to experimental Jazz big band, to arranging 1960s Bollywood covers, to a country anthem about marriage equality and Tom Lehrer-esque comedy songs.

He has released eleven albums, including the current 4-volume “Anthems & Antithets.” He creates music videos for his songs, most recently “Gimme Some of That Old Time Prog,” a spot-on send up of Prog Rock and his songs have been sung by Nathan Lane, Lisa Loeb, Terre Roche and David Yazbek.

1. Theseus Rex (feat. Tulasi Rain, Derek Day & Rob Shapiro)
2. The Other Brian Woodbury
3. Where It Came From
4. Two Halves
5. We Are the Sun (feat. Naomi Adele Smith & Johnny Unicorn)
6. Dystopian Fantasy
7. Everybody’s Gonna Be the Same (feat. Jonathan Feinberg)
8. How Soon We Forget, How Long We Remember (feat. Amy Denio, Amy Engelhardt, Bill Burnett, Jonathan Feinberg, Paul F. Perry, Tulasi Rain & Johnny Unicorn)
9. The Honorable Mention
10. This Golden Hour
11. The Day the Music Never Died
12. Dilettante
13. Murderer (feat. Brian Dewan)
14. Intelligent Life
15. Bad Timing
16. When Byron Swam
17. Our Cattywampus World
18. Brief Mass (feat. Anand Darsie, Kathi Funston & Tulasi Rain)

Opening on the near ten minute, prog-rock-pop-psych, storytelling opus Theseus Rex (featuring Tulasi Rain, Derek Day & Rob Shapiro), that is seamlessly followed by the trumpet-led, swinging beauty The Other Brian Woodbury, then comes the trippy, melodic balladry hipsway of Where It Came From, the Tenacious D-esque, strident Two Halves, the summer’s breath within the rhythmic We Are the Sun (featuring Naomi Adele Smith & Johnny Unicorn), the trip-tonic Dystopian Fantasy, and then comes the Caribbean-imbibed Everybody’s Gonna Be the Same (featuring Jonathan Feinberg), the Renaissance-flavored How Soon We Forget, How Long We Remember (featuring the smorgasbord of Amy Denio, Amy Engelhardt, Bill Burnett, Jonathan Feinberg, Paul F. Perry, Tulasi Rain & Johnny Unicorn) and then the blurred layers of vocals and musicianship within The Honorable Mention are brought forth.

Up next on this lushly harmonious new album is the beautifully jaunty balladry of This Golden Hour and the alt-pop-rock of The Day the Music Never Died and they are in turn followed by the fun, perky diligence of Dilettante, the stalkingly atmospheric prose within Murderer (featuring Brian Dewan), the upbeat and joyous Intelligent Life, then comes one of my own personal favorites, the alt-prog-psych and even rap of Bad Timing, then we get the ornate piano balladry of When Byron Swam, the album closing on the echoing, atmospheric-charged, Cartoon-imbibed Our Cattywampus World and the foreign-tongue (possibly just lyrics recorded backwards!), festive-time feel (even if lyrically it isn’t) of Brief Mass (featuring Anand Darsie, Kathi Funston & Tulasi Rain).

Says Brian: “Anthems & Antithets is a series of 4 double albums I’ve made during the pandemic, each one in its own musical mood: comic, confessional, political and arty. Rhapsody & Filigree is the 4th Volume in the series, and the culmination of the project.”

“Rhapsody & Filigree is expansive, fancy and fanciful – with a wide variety of arty, experimental kinds of pop songwriting, both musically and in subject matter. An emphasis on melody and beauty. The assumption is we’re all educated adults here. I always try to write songs about the things nobody writes songs about. For this album, even more so.”

“On this album, I condense large forms into smaller ones. For instance, the rock opera ‘Theseus Rex’ where Theseus is the bastard son of Jerry Garcia from the Grateful Dead. Inspired by early Genesis and prog rock concept albums, this rock opera lasts just over 9 minutes, but it has a sweeping cinematic scope and it tells a tragic story. Another example is the ‘Brief Mass,’ a full setting of the Latin Mass in just over 7 minutes.”

“I also love miniatures, like ‘When Byron Swam,’ a song about the elusive nature of artistic achievement. (“Did Lord Byron swim the Dardanelles or was it the Bosphorus?”) Or ‘The Honorable Mention’ where a Hollywood award show nominee rehearses his acceptance speech.”

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