3 out of 5

Label: Magic Bullet Records

Produced by: Stephen Brodsky?, Dave Merullo (mastered by)

With Stephen Brodsky’s swinging between actual singing and screaming on Until… and Cave In’s soon-stated decision thereafter to try some things besides hardcore, it became logical to attribute a fair chunk of the group’s creative drive to the singer.  Indeed, in the many years and projects following, Steve has shown that he can leverage his interest in Beatles-esque harmonies into all sorts of bands and genres.

His “solo” work, or rather the work appearing solely under his own name, would seem to pop up inbetween other things, and initially on the DIY Magic Bullet label.  The recordings are often spare (Overdubs is four tracked) and the compositions sparse.  And, I’d opinionate, not necessarily meant to be reviewed as full-on albums.

While the are aspects of Steve’s oeuvre that are fairly standard to me – these songs, for example, stick to fairly typical verse and chorus structures, and in general his lyrics have always been a bit too open-ended to grab me – I still have immense respect for his output, as it feels legitimate, and produced with intent.  And there’s often enough extra ideas sticking out at odd ends to effectively dress up those standard elements.

Like the hardcore scene’s Bob Pollard, Brodsky is a man with a constantly song-gear-turning mind, and one we can imagine is scrolling through tune prospects at a quick rate.  Sometimes these are just sketches, but sometimes they congeal into full ideas.  And maybe they don’t quite have a place on a studio album, but they deserve an outlet.  So Steve hits record and lays it down, and is kind enough to release some of it.

Expose Your Overdubs, then, is by no means Earth moving, but it’s certainly pleasant, and an appreciated look into the “downtime” brain of an undeniably talented man.  Some of the tracks hit on rawer territory – Moving Territory, or (Missing the Mark of) Love Song – but we do get a couple of legitimate toe-tappers like Good To Know that mark the recording as more than just demos.

Definitely for the dedicated Brodsky follower, and best sprung on new Cave-In recruits.