Gritty debut album from Austin-via-Seattle wavemaker Yahtzee Brown channels Petty, Stones and…Britpop(?)

Release Date:  24^th January 2025

Label: Deko Music US

Formats: LP / Digital

A MUSICAL UPBRINGING

Otherwise known as Noah Siegel, Yahtzee Brown is the 22-year-old offspring of drummer and Supersuckers founder Dancing Eagle and a Texan mother.  His early life saw him flitting between Seattle and Austin, alongside lengthy stints on the road with his parents and, since 2023, he’s been settled in Texas. 

Having grown up in a musical household, with a piano and lots of guitars easily to hand and with the likes of Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jerry Jeff walker, Townes Van Zandt and Tom Petty in constant rotation on the family hifi, it was inevitable that Noah would be lured into music, as he explains: ”I started off wanting to be a guitar player but being the lead guitar wasn’t really my calling.  Then I got into Tom Petty and thought, ‘Oh this could be my avenue.’  I’ve always been crazy about really great songs and I’ve been obsessed with music from a fan standpoint.  When I realized being a songwriter could be a path for me, I started getting serious about singing too.  That was [when I] was around 15 or 16.”

SHARPENED AND POLISHED

Well – he’s 22 now, and it’s clear that Yahtzee Brown is maturing into an accomplished songwriter and performer.  The nine songs that constitute You Got This are all his own work although Yahtzee is magnanimous in giving due credit to the help he’s received from producer/mentor Emile Millar in “sharpening and polishing his sound” and from the musicians – including dad Dancing Eagle on drums, producer Emile on keyboards, guitar and percussion and co-producer Michael Lockwood on guitar, bass and keyboards – who have helped turn You Got This into a reality.

SONGWRITING CUES

It’s lead single Take It Back that gets You Got This underway and, immediately, the richness of the sound is striking.  Noah’s vocals are strident and assured, Michael’s bass is resonant, the drumming is solid and the keyboard tones complete a sound that is dreamlike and spacy.  Noah takes many of his songwriting cues from the classic rock of the late 60s and early 70s – particularly, I’d say from Beggars Banquet-era Rolling Stones – and those influences are here, to be enjoyed, right from the outset.

The rhythm section continue to provide the drive for Big Friday, the first of several tracks on the album that appear to draw some measure of inspiration from bands like Oasis and their Britpop contemporaries.  There’s lots of nice jangly guitar as, with lines like “…and I hope you’re still doing drugs when we’re all 29/ Big Friday roll one up and take your time,” Noah celebrates the weekend in the time-honoured way. 

The simmering Dad Rock is slower-paced, with a hint of psychedelia around its edges.  Noah shows his contemplative side with lyrics like: “Most the time I do this new thing, where I sit in the yard by the tyre swing.  That’s where I drink, listen to tapes and I think all about you,” as the song builds towards its tense, dramatic, climax.

FLAVOURS OF BRITPOP

I Am Waiting is a chugging rocker, awash with gritty, soaring guitars and with some grand statements being made on the piano, before a clangy guitar introduces I Guess I’m Sorry, the second of the album’s two singles and a true album highlight.  Deep and melodic, with layered vocal harmonies that are really effective, it’s another song that channels flavours of Britpop and Noah’s confident vocal just adds to that impression.

And we stick with the Britpop references for the raunchy Watching Over You.  Michael’s throbbing bass is well upfront in the mix and the guitars ring and chime, just as they should, before the pace is dialed right back for Sidelines, an unanticipated slow piano ballad.  There’s no sweetness and light here, though; Noah’s lyrics are biting and cynical and he delivers them through clenched teeth, and even the strings – normally a sure-fire sweetener in any song – seem to have a bitter, biting edge to them.

SPIRIT OF THE STONES

The bitterness is unabated, albeit tinged with a few notes of regret, for the eerie, melodic, Halloween before the spirit of The Stones makes its reappearance for closing track 8 Weeks.  An acoustic, bluesy anthem, it’s another of the album’s standout tracks; Noah sounds particularly comfortable as he tackles the gospel-edged lyrics, and I love the flurries of slide guitar!

You Got This is an accomplished debut album from an artist that has clearly got a great deal to offer.  Expect to be hearing a lot more from Yahtzee Brown over the coming months…

Listen to I Guess I’m Sorry, the most recent of the album’s two singles and a standout track from You Got This here:

Yahtzee Brown online: Instagram / TikTok / YouTube / Bandcamp

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