BC Camplight’s newest album, “A Sober Conversation,” is scheduled to release Friday. Credit: Courtesy of Sarah Arvin
BC Camplight’s seventh album, “A Sober Conversation,” is set to release Friday on all platforms via Bella Union. The album is as nostalgically comforting as it is enticingly unfamiliar.
“A Sober Conversation” is a “sometimes haunting quasi-concept record … marked by ruthless tragic-comedic purging and sublime, intricate melody, knitting lyrical screenplays to dazzling arrangement,” said Sarah Arvin, Camplight’s publicist.
This new music by the Manchester-based composer, whose real name is Brian Christinzio, comes at a crossroads in his life as he navigates new-found sobriety.
Camplight abandons the “tortured genius” trope, though he never considered himself a genius per se. He said while the archetype haunted his career as a young artist, even shaping his writing process, he has since overcome it.
“It’s just lame, you know, there’s nothing really to celebrate there,” Christinzio said. “I’m more interested now in celebrating myself and celebrating people that have decided that they’re stronger than those stereotypes.”
This album carries a reflective tone as Christinzio looks back on his past and comes shortly after the 20th anniversary of BC Camplight’s first album, “Run, Hide Away.”
Retrospectively calling his 20-years-younger self “an optimistic and very well intentioned person who just didn’t know what he was about to get into,” Christinzio said he nevertheless expressed a great deal of pride in his debut album.
Where Christinzio is a bit more clinical during studio sessions, his preliminary songwriting process is more spontaneous than structured.
“I’ll be in the supermarket, and, you know, buying beans, and get an idea for a production element or an arrangement,” he said.
Christinzio said recording “A Sober Conversation” was especially “taxing emotionally, because of the subject matter, and I found myself having to take a lot of breathers.”
Despite or possibly even because of these creative procedural changes, Arvin said this album is “BC Camplight at the height of his remarkable powers.”
With carefully orchestrated string ensembles, live horns, flutes and drums, Christinzio creates an atmosphere that at times feels like an invitation into his world, and at others feels like an entirely new world altogether.
Christinzio sees BC Camplight’s discography as his living legacy, using that pressure as a motivator.
“You know, it freaks me out, the idea of putting something out there that I’m not a hundred percent on — so if I have to spend way too much time on something, I will,” Christinzio said.
Thus, every BC Camplight album has been powerful and cathartically moving in its own way, and No. 7 is not any less soaring nor deep. If anything, it’s BC Camplight’s best, most fully-formed yet.
“A Sober Conversation” is more esoteric and reflective than ominous and distressed, and remains comfortable, focused and grounded without being boring.
The conversational nature of the lyrics, peppered with dark humor, come as little surprise considering the album title and that this is the “BC Camplight way.” He said he equates the twisted comedy of his lyricism to the same heartbreaking effect incurred by a tragedy befalling a good-natured funny character in the media. However, where Brian’s relatability is painful in previous albums, it instead leaves the listener feeling uplifted in “A Sober Conversation.”
The reverb and echo on the vocals, as well as occasional background dialogue give it a memory/dream-like feeling, and the rich production and studio space support the reflective tone. The beautifully nostalgic 20th-century sophisticated pop sound gives off the quality of memorable music that you heard adults listening to when you were a kid.
“I’ve been really influenced by classical music and kind of ‘60s pop. People like The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson,” said Christinzio, just days before Wilson’s passing.
While his love of the classics has inspired him to hire ensembles, Christinzio said that another love frequently wins in the end — synth strings. All of the synth sounds on BC Camplight records are real vintage synthesizers, specifically mentioning the Roland Juno 106 used on each of his records.
“After 15-20 years or so, they just start sounding like they’re not doing what they’re supposed to do, and in a way that’s what makes them so amazing,” Christinzio said.
The singer also said Todd Rundgren, another musician, influenced the album’s lead single, “Two-Legged Dog” featuring Abigail Morris, lead singer for The Last Dinner Party. This song is a different kind of “last dinner party,” starting out swanky and swinging, but taking an unexpected turn into sonic surrealism that makes you question if someone slipped something into your drink.
Its release set the tone of the album, giving the listeners a taste of what was yet to come; “The Tent” and “Rock Gently in Disorder” take after its delightfully unpredictable drop-off, while “When I Make my First Million” and “Bubbles in The Gasoline” take after the easy melodic beginning.
As great as this collaboration is, it’s hard to believe that it almost didn’t happen. Christinzio said that, with the original vocalist having fallen through at the last second, he reached out to Morris, who he had met as a fellow performer at Glastonbury in 2024. As a fan of his work, the singer finished her part in just two days, teaching Brian a lesson about collaboration in the process.
“What she did was way better than what was in my head,” Christinzio said. “I just let her do her thing, and she absolutely killed it. It’s one of the more moving songs on the record.”
While BC Camplight will not be playing in Columbus this tour, he is more eager to get back on the road than ever, describing his shows as funny and energetic, with the ultimate aim of “exhausting all of the human experience.” Christinzio also thanked his fans, emphasizing the personal value of their connection.
“I think if my fans are helped by me emotionally, then that’s really all I can ask for — I mean, that’s the greatest honor that there is as a musician,” Christinzio said.
Christinzio’s parting message is one of encouragement, specifically for young readers.
“You really do not need to be afraid of being yourself as an artist and as a human being,” Christinzio said. “For better or worse, I’ve always been myself, and that’s something I’ve always kind of liked about me.”
