Brian Borcherdt

Every person has their own way of dealing with hard times. When a close friend dies (or more tragically, takes their own life), people are forced to come up with their own coping mechanisms. Some let it consume them. Others forget it all together. Brian Borcherdt (who also handles guitar duties for By Divine Right) chose to honour the recent passing of a close friend by recording an EP of honest, heart-breaking songs to express the spectrum of feelings that death can evoke. Needless to say, this self-titled release is fairly dark, but no matter how hard the subject matter is to take, Borcherdt does it with the utmost decency. Lines like "You were dreaming when they wheeled you in that you were breathing but your lungs were giving in” are delivered over hauntingly beautiful musical bedding, driven by acoustic guitars and swirling effects. Borcherdt has a unique voice and while death is never an easy topic, the subject matter dramatically affects his delivery, opening up the floodgates to provide a pure human experience. A touchy subject tackled with good taste and great music to boot, we should all thank Borcherdt for opening up and letting us in on thoughts that most of us hope we’ll never have to go through ourselves.