Quick & Dirty: Brett Caswell - by Carl Gouldson - Last year, Brett Caswell resolved to break a pattern he had succumbed to for the last four years of his life: the rising and falling of the inner group dynamic, which resulted in a career littered with false starts. This year, he's got his show out on the road and he's ready to start fresh. In early January '08, Caswell marked the beginning of his solo career by dropping his disc, Love Waiting, as well as a performance in maiden showcase at 'The Foundation' in his hometown and indie-haven of Barrie, Ontario. Mellow and laid back are the typical adjectives to describe a sound like his, and they fit sure enough, but also sit lonely without an adverb like 'fucking' in front of them. From the time the first sound check runs through, he's clearly working through the stress that comes hours before launching one's first solo album, concert and career all in the same night. The whole process includes a level of entrepreneurship they don't teach with piano lessons and although he's struggling, at least it's within the confines of a club packed with friends and fans waiting for him to shut up and just get on stage. "It feels like I'm starting over again from scratch," he says later on, after his blood pressure cools, "I still have a long road ahead of me but that's fine. Now it's just me, and that's reassuring." The new set opens with a symphonic key solo under a spotlight while classical guitarists; a violin, drums and bass fill the rest of the stage. The energy projected through his first few numbers makes his sound much harder to pinpoint, falling somewhere between hard and southern rock. That 'why the hell is my foot tapping?' vibe creeps up on you as seductive, heartbreak-soaked ballads confuse themselves amongst various edgier influences ranging from punk and ska to progressive hip hop. On the album, Caswell resurrects the emotionally sappy inspiration that fueled a similar sound in past projects, but breaks away early to incorporate noticeably improved folksy, parlor-piano-driven material. "My heart is on my sleeve on this one, it's a lot of 'wah wah, cry cry' stuff, but I don't mind putting it out there, a lot of people can relate to it," he says. Aside from the playing on the percussion sections, he recorded and financed the entire project himself, choosing the content from over 100 numbers he's put together over the past year. "I'm always at home making demos on a 4-track, even with (former group) Fight Like Gentlemen, I was always at home recording on my own," he says, "I pressed about 20 onto burnt CDs and gave it out to my friends to help decide what would make the cut." Jumping back and forth between the keys and guitar, he exploits the finer elegant notes from a classical piano in contrast to a recurring accelerating tempo to open up his more complicated efforts. They come off well prepared, too; snare drum shuffles under a twang-y slide guitar perfectly compliment each other alongside brief wails from the violin. As the set closes out, a visibly relieved performer, he begins to exhibit all the hallmark signs of an indie musician; the sheer audacity to play two ballads in a row, no stories from the road or pointless diatribes about the new lyrics, just unrelenting, out-of-breath gratitude to the good people around him. "I'm going to make it on my own terms," he says, as admittedly idealistic as it sounds. "I have no desire to live in the city, and I hate the politics of music. Maybe it's just me, but I love the people I'm playing with and I like nature."