It seems that B.R.K. is taking this “new year, new me” thing pretty seriously. He was still going by Brik.Liam just last November when he dropped off his single “laundromat (close)” for our listening pleasure. Now he’s back with a new name and a new jam with the release of his latest single “wait, HOL’ UP.”
“wait, HOL’ UP” seems to be an artful meditation on the creative process and what it can feel like when one is in the midst of it all. The song is built on a soulful-yet-jazzy arrangement of guitar and percussion with other elements dispersed throughout.
“All’s intertwined / But love’s on the line / Facing forward / Never the present / Stuck in the past / Cloudy vision peering through an hourglass,” he sings. “’Cause I been going crazy workin’ on my work.” From there, the song shifts into high gear with an exhilarating semi-chorus as a tornado of backing vocals, spoken ad-libs and spare riffs swirl around B.R.K.’s own vocal meditation as he gives voices to his thoughts and desires.
This isn’t necessarily a new side of B.R.K. more than it is an expansion of the talents and vision that made us love him in the first place. And it’s a vision that he’s even more willing to get behind, with him even sharing a last-minute entry into NPR Music’s 2023 Tiny Desk Contest for us to enjoy. It isn’t clear if he quite made the cutoff, but we’re definitely digging the ambition and wish him luck and success.
Stop what you’re doing and get into B.R.K. giving us a stream-of-consciousness bop when you listen to “wait, HOL’ UP” right here and then check him and his band of friends out in his Tiny Desk Contest submission below.
