Brent at The Ryman
There has been a lot of talk about seasonality in music this year. If Brat was the soundtrack to summer, Brent has a sonic landscape perfect for winter.
Brent is the collaborative project brought forth by Chelsea Cutler and Jeremy Zucker that showcases a more stripped-back sound than their solo work, with even more poignant lyrical content. Both artists, who rose to prominence on SoundCloud with their heart-wrenching lyrics and DIY electro-pop production, wrote the first edition of Brent in 2019 during a weekend in a cabin-turned-studio. The pair decided that whatever they left the weekend having finished they would put as an EP, named after “Brentwood Rd,” the street the cabin was on.
Both artists, who rose to prominence on SoundCloud with their heart-wrenching lyrics and DIY electro-pop production, launched Brent in 2019 during a weekend in a cabin-turned-studio. The EP was named after "Brentwood Rd," the street where the cabin was located.
Since then, the project has evolved into a trilogy: a second EP followed in 2021, and now, in 2023, the story concludes with a full-length album. For years, fans have stormed Culter and Zucker’s comment sections demanding a tour. No such tour came until this fall, as the duo brought Brent Forever to Nashville’s iconic Ryman Auditorium on November 17th.
The stage setup stayed true to the project’s intimate origins. Dimly lighting, couches, coffee tables full of books, and a chandelier hanging over recreated the Brentwood cabin for the audience to be fully immersed in the project’s universe.
A string quartet played the artists in, as they pulled down a projection screen that displayed a montage of Brent’s evolution. The creaking of the historic venue’s wooden floors and church pews added to the ambiance.
The set was opened with “Ashes & Rust,” the brand new sequel to the fan favorite “Parent’s Song” from Brent ii. The song that followed, “Black & White” got a reaction from fans with its opening lines “Layin' down next to me; Couple miles out of Tennessee.”
Throughout the set, the artists weaved together songs from the different eras of the project. They invited the crowd to stand for the first time in the set for the upbeat single “A-Frame” from the most recent edition of their collaborations.
While largely a collaborative project, each release contained a solo song from each artist. Cutler and Zucker took turns during the set to play their solo works, as the other laid on the leather couch at the back of the stage.
The pair came back together to play a song that changed their careers, “You Were Good To Me.” Zucker sat close, strumming his guitar as Cutler played the instantly recognizable piano melody. The entire crowd sang every note along with them.
The collaborators broke from the serious nature of the set for a moment when Cutler had difficulty operating the Polaroid camera on stage. Not only are they artistic partners, they are real-life friends. A moment of banter surrounding what the first song they wrote together actually was let the audience in a little bit more.
Chelsea Cutler and Jeremy Zucker closed out the night with a high note. “this is how you fall in love” feels like the mirror image of “You Were Good To Me.” The crowd was brought together for the final time to sing the powerful refrain “Oh my love, side to side” before the artists took their final bows.