{"id":28963,"date":"2017-07-27T10:55:57","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T09:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/?p=28963"},"modified":"2017-07-21T14:02:28","modified_gmt":"2017-07-21T13:02:28","slug":"brian-mackey-learn-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essentiallypop.com\/epop\/2017\/07\/brian-mackey-learn-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Mackey – ‘Learn To Be’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Brian Mackey knows there are few things in life as brutal as a breakup. Once we\u2019ve become accustomed to the support of a partner, we can find it nearly impossible to stand alone; it\u2019s no great exaggeration to say that we\u2019re forced to learn to walk again.<\/strong><\/h4>\n

But emotional turbulence has often prompted gripping, forthright art, and Mackey\u2019s latest single is just that kind of a song. \u201cLearn To Be\u201d is an aching, unflinching look at dependence within a troubled relationship \u2013 the lament of a man who is searching for a lost sense of self in the long shadow of his partner. It\u2019s exactly the sort of writing we\u2019ve come to expect from Mackey, an earnest chronicler of the human heart whose private reflections always have universal dimensions.<\/p>\n

To translate the story of \u201cLearn To Be\u201d to moving images, he\u2019s turned to the Argentine filmmaker and artist Caro Patlis, who brings his song to life in bold color. Patlis has won international recognition as a director, but she\u2019s also a trained photographer, too \u2013 one who has worked for the legendary Danny Clinch \u2013 and her attention to composition and visual detail is apparent in every frame of the \u201cLearn To Be\u201d clip. Here her camera follows a young painter whose latitude for expression is compromised by his obsessive dependence on the women in his life. Just as their protagonist flings paint at his canvas in frustration, Patlis and Mackey confront the viewer with scenes that are provocative, colorful, maybe a little messy, but always compulsively watchable.<\/p>\n

\u201cLearn To Be\u201d is the lead single from Brian Mackey\u2019s upcoming EP \u2013 one that\u2019s poised to extend a winning streak that began a decade ago with the imaginative, playful Feng Shui For Slobs EP. That disc earned Mackey his first placement (the song \u201cPainted Red,\u201d which was featured in the Disney Channel\u2019s Naturally Sadie), and the singer-songwriter hasn\u2019t looked back since. With its cinematic scope and its immersive beauty, Mackey\u2019s music is a natural fit for television and movies, and his songs have scored programming on the Travel Channel, A&E, Lifetime, and numerous other filmed projects. Broken Heartstrings, Mackey\u2019s 2014 set, earned him attention on CMT for the expansive \u201cAmerica\u201d. He\u2019s persuaded ace producer Jon Levine \u2013 the man who put the muscle in Rachel Platten\u2019s \u201cFight Song\u201d \u2014 to man the boards for his set. He\u2019s on the brink of a major breakthrough, and we won\u2019t be surprised at all if \u201cLearn To Be\u201d is the single that makes the telegenic Mackey a star.<\/p>\n

Be sure to check out Brian Mackey’s official website<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

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