ELK RAPIDS — Call it a new genre or just a new label, but when Kyle Brown & The Human Condition play Elk Rapids’ Ethanology on Saturday (5/11) and northern Michigan music festivals later this summer, they’ll unfurl what they call “folk-rock fusion.”
“Obviously, my style is really rooted in the roots rock, Americana and folk world,” Brown said, “but these guys bring a whole bunch of different genres to the table – influences like funk and progressive rock and things like that. It’s kind of a mix of all those genres, little bits of jazz, little bits of prog.”
All of those little bits have been assembled into the group’s first official full-band studio EP, “The Touch of Grass,” officially released last weekend (May 3).
Recorded at Grand Haven’s Third Coast Recording Co. and engineered and mixed by Raziel Castaneda, the six-song project features Brown, drummer Mike Schertenlieb, bassist Kosta Karis and keyboard player Mikey Olson.
“There isn’t a particular theme to this album per se. Like the band name suggests, my songs tend to deal with different facets of the human condition — emotion, mortality, aspiration, conflict,” said Brown, who lives in Montague.
“I brought these songs more or less fully formed to the band, but we arranged and tweaked them together. … This approach combined with the benefit of being in a studio like Third Coast, and the experience of Raziel Castaneda, resulted in the most complete and mature sounding music I’ve ever been a part of creating.”
Brown cites early influences such as Paul Simon, The Grateful Dead, Townes Van Zandt, Neil Young, Little Feat, Tracy Chapman and Bob Dylan, but conceded he’s listened a lot lately to Jason Isbell, Brent Cobb, Anders Osborne, Clinton Fearon, Culture, Tyler Childers and Bob Marley.
“My favorite artists are always changing and I’m always looking for new music,” said Brown, 33, who’s also member a new reggae-leaning West Michigan band, Calico. “I tend to gravitate toward country, folk and reggae the most.”
The former frontman for roots rock’s Bigfoot Buffalo, noted the Human Condition re-recorded the Bigfoot Buffalo track, “Ghost of Emily,” for the new project, giving the song “its own flavor” thanks to the “original spin” that band members tend to give Brown’s compositions.
The band plays Ethanology in Elk Rapids at 7 p.m. Saturday (May 11). Later this month, Kyle Brown & The Human Condition will join Portland, Ore., folk band Ezra Bell for upcoming shows in Detroit and Chicago, followed by several summer music festivals, including Beaver Island Music Festival on Beaver Island, Tamarack Music Festival in Morley and the Deckfest in Muskegon.
“I’m really excited to get that (new EP) out there,” Brown said. “I know I did a lot more improv in the past with my band Bigfoot Buffalo, but this is more calculated, timed out, very specific set that we’ve got here.”