Brontë Fall – Finishing School
Independent – 21 August 2020
Brontë Fall have a lot to live up to and Finishing School takes that task very seriously. Songwriter and bandleader Teri Bracken is well aware of the legacy of the three Brontë sisters and how they had to use male pseudonyms to initially publish their works. Thankfully that’s not the world we live in today, although how far we’ve actually come is still subject to question. Gender inequality still exists as Bracken notes, “Women have to fight harder to get their voices heard and to hold prominent positions in the workplace. We are still fighting the same fight as Emily, Charlotte and Anne!”
A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Bracken’s songs incorporate so many different influences befitting a woman who started playing classical music at an early age, yet now resides in Nashville. Unlike the typical finishing school, Bracken’s album opens with Six Years where she recounts a litany of growth that has made her the woman she is today, “Now I’m six years older/ Six years smarter/ Six years stronger/ My will is unshakeable.” This is all played out against a phased acoustic guitar, joined by keyboards and drums that add to the strength she has gained over time.
The manifesto of Warrior suggests that regardless of what she wears she isn’t that mousy little girl. Rather, she uses her feminine objects as weapons rather than conforming to societal expectations, “I am not weak/ I am a warrior.” Clearly, the finishing school that she’s attending isn’t the one that helps her find a husband. This is one that helps her find a way in a world that hasn’t always been ready for women to take their place in the world.
Revealing her background on violin, Bad Ideas has the kind of intricate string arrangement that one doesn’t normally hear on a pop song. Again and again, the strings underscore the influences that keep us from doing what is logical and right. Inexplicable choices keep popping up and holding us back. Strings also play a part of Give You A Halo where the old fashioned piano opening is perfect for a song about saying goodbye to her grandmother.
When it comes to making choices the closing track White Dress juxtaposes the world she lives in with that of the sexist dream of marriage, kids and home with a white picket fence. Against organ and guitar, Bracken suggests that dreams come in a variety of shapes and sizes, “It may not look the rest/ But I’m living my white dress.” While we are all shaped by the choices we make, we still get to make our own rather than living by unwritten societal norms.
The remarkable thing about Brontë Fall is how subversive the band actually is. Using relatively standard musical forms Teri Bracken has found a way to express feelings that suggest we don’t need to be tied to outside expectations. The only Finishing School we need to attend is the one we choose.
Photo Credit: Ashtin Page