Boy Bjorn - Mistaken Animals (2018)

Brian had already achieved a great deal as one half of electronic-folk duo Foreign Fields - national tours, festival appearances, releasing a critically-acclaimed debut album - but an anxiety fueled by self-doubt, estimations, measuring up and counting trophies had finally reached tipping point.

After slowly but surely inviting us into his personal world with a series of pre-release singles, Brian Holl aka. Boy Bjorn is ready to bare all with his debut solo record Mistaken Animals.

Born, or should we say Bjorn (sorry), out of a desire to capture moments lost, personal growth and tackling anxiety head-on, Mistaken Animals is a conglomeration of catharsis; a beautifully poignant record that brings all the facets of Bjorn’s personality and charm into one relatable cornucopia of intimate moments and personal strife.

Sometimes awash with sweeping synths and intricate drum-tracks, sometimes sombre and solemn with lilted guitarwork and soft beats, the record constantly shifts between worlds. Ethereal, guitar-led tracks such as ‘Don’t Open,’ ‘Ballad Unknown’ and ‘Owned by Everyone’ serve as moments of melancholy beneath the bubbling waves of uncertainty, whilst the multi-layered synths and electronic intricacies of ‘Lungs’ and ‘BeTheOne’ swirl through off-kilter rhythmic patterns and haunting melody.

Atop it all, though, lies Boy Bjorn’s astute lyricism, drawing on his own personal experience and feelings to intimately craft each piece. No two tracks are the same, and it’s as if each soundscape is a unique, hand-roasted blend of coffee, each with it’s own warming flavour to enjoy as you sit down to chat in Bjorn’s living room.

“The precipice for the act of doing this album completely on my own is just another example of perspective in our lives,” explains Boy Bjorn. “Where you’ve been and where you’re going. My entire musical compass was wrapped up in my collaboration with Eric Hillman, my brother (not literal, but in enough ways for the word to make sense) and other half of Foreign Fields.

‘Brian Holl of Foreign Fields’ was all I really knew of myself musically. But I had all these stories, feelings, vibes stuck in my head that didn’t live in the world we built together. It probably wasn’t best for me to do this album, start to finish, by myself, but it was my personal marathon to complete.

Looking back, as any artist, there are compounding moments I would change about it. But that’s the beauty of it. It won’t be changed. It’ll age and die off and maybe saved on some person’s device 20 years from now and they’ll hear me pacing alone in my small house in Nashville contemplating the impact of my experiences with the people closest to me.”

This sense of relinquishing control and battling forward is perhaps the most important message to take away from Mistaken Animals, a record that serves as an olive branch to all those dealing with their own personal marathon. Keep going, keep battling on and most importantly of all, grab yourself a nice warm cuppa and lose yourself – if only for a moment – in Boy Bjorn’s beautiful debut.