- 1Six-8
- 2Figure
- 340 Red Blue 2
- 411385
- 5I.iv
- 6nil
- 7GT3
- 8Two Wrongs
- 9Figure (Ground)
- 10Ten
- 11DRAW
SWO-006
•
Open edition
"Infectiously idiosyncratic" - Treble
Watch the video for "DRAW": www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADAqNTEFOBI
Watch the video for "Two Wrongs": www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9ECHWUTb_I
VINYL: https://griffinbrown.bandcamp.com/album/begriffen
***
Begriffen is Griffin Brown’s third solo album—in a sense, his self-titled. Released May 8, co-released by Spread Way Out/Better Company Records, Begriffen is a collection of songs that ask more than they answer, embodying the omnivorous pursuits of a musician The Wire calls “impressive” and “original.”
Following in the mold of 2021’s il y a and 2023’s Busy Being Angry, work Bandcamp praises for its “tapestry of sound,” Begriffen ranges across electronic, rock, pop, classical, and jazz textures; track 2 sounds nothing like track 5. But the voice is nevertheless unified and distinct, and it pushes further than its predecessors into song. Formally and lyrically, it is Brown at his most forthright, centering the poetry that has appeared in The Paris Review, Oxford Poetry, Plume, and other publications.
Reflecting on new love, as in the maximalist “Figure” (“I wake up for the first time in a year, full of ideas”), or on the angular cadences of social norms, as in woozy rocker “DRAW” (“I need a hint, like a task, to check off and put behind me…”), Brown vocalizes the everyday, the site of banality and atrocity. The title is part-eponymous, part-concept: it’s an inversion of his name (Griffin B); an imperative for himself; and a German word meaning something like “under development,” “growing,” or even “to understand, fathom.”
“People can’t tell if I’m joking,” he diagnoses, half in jest, on the sprawling “I.iv,” a monologue that bridges the album’s digital first side and more band-based latter half. The band here is all Brown, as is the production and engineering. As Begriffen progresses, and the more confident the voice becomes, the less sure it is of what it has achieved. There are hooks everywhere, but this isn’t quite a straightforward set of songs. Yet neither is it simply an album of electroacoustic composition with voice, or the sum of months of free improvisation—two methods of working Brown has exploited in the past.
There are DnB odysseys (“40 Red Blue 2”) next to slices of charred funk (“Two Wrongs”) and outré R&B (“Six-8”). The closing lines of the record finish the couplet from “DRAW,” above: “I need a hint, like a task, to check off and put behind me / but I don’t quite know what my success would guarantee.” Some might describe it as a sign of growth.
***
released May 8, 2026
Griffin Brown - composition, text, voice, instruments, eng/production, mixing, mastering
Melanie Carlstad - cover artwork; spoken voice at beginning of "11385"
© 2026 Spread Way Out
Digital ℗ 2026 Spread Way Out
Vinyl ℗ 2026 Better Company Records
SWO 006
Watch the video for "DRAW": www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADAqNTEFOBI
Watch the video for "Two Wrongs": www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9ECHWUTb_I
VINYL: https://griffinbrown.bandcamp.com/album/begriffen
***
Begriffen is Griffin Brown’s third solo album—in a sense, his self-titled. Released May 8, co-released by Spread Way Out/Better Company Records, Begriffen is a collection of songs that ask more than they answer, embodying the omnivorous pursuits of a musician The Wire calls “impressive” and “original.”
Following in the mold of 2021’s il y a and 2023’s Busy Being Angry, work Bandcamp praises for its “tapestry of sound,” Begriffen ranges across electronic, rock, pop, classical, and jazz textures; track 2 sounds nothing like track 5. But the voice is nevertheless unified and distinct, and it pushes further than its predecessors into song. Formally and lyrically, it is Brown at his most forthright, centering the poetry that has appeared in The Paris Review, Oxford Poetry, Plume, and other publications.
Reflecting on new love, as in the maximalist “Figure” (“I wake up for the first time in a year, full of ideas”), or on the angular cadences of social norms, as in woozy rocker “DRAW” (“I need a hint, like a task, to check off and put behind me…”), Brown vocalizes the everyday, the site of banality and atrocity. The title is part-eponymous, part-concept: it’s an inversion of his name (Griffin B); an imperative for himself; and a German word meaning something like “under development,” “growing,” or even “to understand, fathom.”
“People can’t tell if I’m joking,” he diagnoses, half in jest, on the sprawling “I.iv,” a monologue that bridges the album’s digital first side and more band-based latter half. The band here is all Brown, as is the production and engineering. As Begriffen progresses, and the more confident the voice becomes, the less sure it is of what it has achieved. There are hooks everywhere, but this isn’t quite a straightforward set of songs. Yet neither is it simply an album of electroacoustic composition with voice, or the sum of months of free improvisation—two methods of working Brown has exploited in the past.
There are DnB odysseys (“40 Red Blue 2”) next to slices of charred funk (“Two Wrongs”) and outré R&B (“Six-8”). The closing lines of the record finish the couplet from “DRAW,” above: “I need a hint, like a task, to check off and put behind me / but I don’t quite know what my success would guarantee.” Some might describe it as a sign of growth.
***
released May 8, 2026
Griffin Brown - composition, text, voice, instruments, eng/production, mixing, mastering
Melanie Carlstad - cover artwork; spoken voice at beginning of "11385"
© 2026 Spread Way Out
Digital ℗ 2026 Spread Way Out
Vinyl ℗ 2026 Better Company Records
SWO 006
