Bronze Age
A romantic but mischievous account of gay life under strange political conditions, Bronze Age combines crooning lite FM song forms with synth-forward arrangements and homespun recording techniques; the result is a sonically eclectic flash memoir of a sixteen-year queer relationship — two men moving from city to city, searching for a place to call home in this pitiless but beautiful country.
Why Bronze Age? “Bronze is a very useful metal,” Griffiths explains. “It’s hard. It’s ugly. We’ve been using it for eons to make cymbals, bells, sculptures, tools. I also have always found myself drawn to the bronze medal winner in the Olympics. I feel great for them and I feel like I appreciate what they do the most. They did enough. They did well.” Running a style gamut from vintage radio pop to visceral post-rock drones, Bronze Age addresses rainbow capitalism, the ubiquity of internet paranoia, the immersiveness of consumer culture, and depression in the anthropocene. Bronze Age stands in opposition to the gold-chasing bombast and speed of modern pop culture. It’s a shot/chaser of sorts: a sermonic call for quiet in a loud world, coupled with winking, pitch dark suspicions that brotherly love has already died on the slab.
Bronze Age was written and recorded by Griffiths in his home in Mt. Airy, Philadelphia between August 2023 and April 2024. It was co-produced by Griffiths’ longtime friend and ANTIQUES keyboardist, Billy Durette, who also contributed keyboards on several tracks. Griffiths’s husband, Garen, plays piano on the final track of the album, “Bronze.”
Bronze Age will be released independently on Friday, October 4th, 2024.
Tracklist:
1. Gold
2. Durham St.
3. Smile At Me, Pt. 2
4. Twisting Knobs
5. Sweet Bliss
6. Give Me Another Thing
7. Silver
8. Skeleton/Spirit
9. Storm In the Wissahickon, July 9th, 2023
10. Suit
11. Never-Was Chrysalis
12. Bronze