Brand new and already legends in the making, Chicago’s Brigitte Calls Me Baby take us track-by-track through their debut EP ‘This House is Made of Corners,’ an all-hits, no misses introduction full of seductive, soul-stirring crooning, fervent post-punk passion, and heated indie rock sound.
for fans of The Smiths, Elvis, Arctic Monkeys, Roy Orbison
“Impressively Average” – Brigitte Calls Me Baby
Brigitte Calls Me Baby open their debut EP with the line, “Now the end is here,” but one can’t help listening to their record and feeling like it’s just the very beginning for this stunning new quintet – no matter how hopeless the future feels. A radiant, spirited record of candid reflection and inner reckoning, This House is Made of Corners is an all-hits, no misses introduction – a five-track sampler full of seductive, soul-stirring crooning, fervent post-punk passion, and heated indie rock sound.
It’s a truly definitive, dynamic starting point from which the Chicago band could go anywhere and everywhere, because with music as potent, powerful, and provocative as theirs, the end has no end – and the limit truly does not exist.
Now the end is here
everyone said this is how it would be
I’m sorry I can’t help but cry
and wonder was the joke on me
I said it long ago, I said it long ago…
There is a place where I want to be
but I don’t know where it is,
I don’t know where it is
There is a place where I will be happy
oh, there must be, oh there must be
Released November 3, 2023 via ATO Records, This House Is Made of Corners sends shivers down the spine as Brigitte Calls Me Baby usher in a new age of transcendent musical excellence.
Pulling from the past while definitively of the here and now, the Chicago band proudly call themselves an “elegant time warp and up-close exploration of our modern-day neuroses.” In practice, that description manifests itself as a breathtaking mélange of styles from throughout the history of rock n’ roll. Comparisons include (but are not limited to) The Smiths, Roy Orbison, Elvis, and Arctic Monkeys, thanks in large part to vocalist Wes Leavins’ once-in-a-generation voice: His smooth, expressive baritone is a dead ringer for vocal legends like Morrissey, Presley, Turner, and while he could surely make a mint playing covers in Vegas, the Texan native has his sights set on high, making a name for himself and his extraordinarily talented band – which includes guitarists Jack Fluegel and Trevor Lynch, bassist Devin Wessels, and drummer Jeremy Benshish.
Though, it should be noted, it was the “Elvis” of it all that actually got Leavins his start, and proved seminal to Brigitte Calls Me Baby’s takeoff. Leavins left high school for a production of the Tony-winning musical The Million Dollar Quartet, in which he played a young Elvis Presley, and was later recruited to record music for Baz Luhrmann’s 2022 film Elvis, where he met and hit it off with nine-time Grammy Award-winning producer, songwriter, and engineer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile).
An invitation to record with Cobb at RCA Studios proved to be the turning point in Brigitte Calls Me Baby’s early career, as the band quickly went from playing local gigs to courting labels. One hell of an introduction later, the rest of their history is playing out in real time as, following their debut EP’s release via ATO and a series of sold-out shows with The Last Dinner Party, Brigitte Calls Me Baby now embark on their first US tour this February and April.
No more life, no more dreams,
no more seeing, no more hearing
consciousness gone, no more hope,
ohh such a joke, such a cruel joke
When my life is though the people will
love me oh if life could only be so kind
then I wouldn’t mind being alive
There will be people and flowers
and the people will love me
oh if life could only be so kind
then I wouldn’t mind being alive
– “The Future Is Our Way Out,” Brigitte Calls Me Baby
For Leavins and co, this EP is just the tipping point – in fact, in December Leavins told Q Magazine they had “two records pretty much completed” – making these first five songs a teaser for the band to get their name out there and put their best feet forward, both in concert and on record.
“The [EP] was recorded in Nashville at RCA, with a little time in Savannah and Chicago to complete it. Changing the scenery up along the way really helped to shape the mood of it all,” the frontman tells Atwood Magazine. “The vision was always the same: With a debut record, I wanted to show the different shades of the band. To say, ‘Here is what we do: If you like this, stick around.’ I think it’s a great example of what’s to come for now – the sounds and topics.”
Multiply the things you thought you wanted
when you were young and thought
that you had fallen
now I’m all you want and your blood is clotted
and you can’t fall asleep
’cause your dreams are haunted
what goes around must come around
and when I’m dead
I’ll come around again
I am only human but I’m capable of the things
that you thought weren’t capable
but conversation’s easier said than done
the temptation better if it was gone
what goes around must come around
so when I’m gone I’ll come around again
Oh, my heart is numb, my head is numb,
oh my god, I am home
– “Impressively Average,” Brigitte Calls Me Baby
Those topics include love, hope and hopelessness, negativity (and the confrontation thereof) and finding the sparks of light and warmth that make life worth living. Leavins describes This House Is Made of Corners as honest, electric, and vulnerable – explaining the reasoning behind its title with just six words: “Corners are great places to hide.”
And yet, it doesn’t feel like this band is hiding; if they are, certainly it’s in plain sight. From the charm and churn of opener “The Future Is Out Way Out” to the raw ache and feverish passion of “Impressively Average,” the sweetly seductive infatuation of “Eddie My Love,” the euphoric, dreamy melodrama of “You Are Only Made of Dreams” and the desire, yearning, and glistening gusto of “Palm of Your Hand,” Brigitte Calls Me Baby makes us all want to be, well, Brigitte!
“I believe the ones who get it will understand all of the nuances,” Leavins says of this EP. “I hope that’s caught.”
Experience the breathtaking wonder of this record via our below stream, and peek inside Brigitte Calls Me Baby’s This House is Made of Corners with Atwood Magazine as Wes Leavins goes track-by-track through the music and lyrics of their debut EP!
Catch the band on tour as they bring their music throughout the US this winter and spring; tour dates and more information here.
Sometimes I wait around a tree
sometimes I swear you wait for me
I swear I’m not a narcissist
but I am so hard to resist
but you know that the distance isn’t far
to get to where you already are
you think you’ve got so far to go
you think you’re so unlovable
True they say everyone will go to waste
and I will have no sense at all
but if you do wait it will likely be too late
and we could miss our chance to fall…
– “Palm of Your Hand,” Brigitte Calls Me Baby
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:: stream/purchase This House is Made of Corners here ::
:: connect with Brigitte Calls Me Baby here ::
‘This House is Made of Corners’ – Brigitte Calls Me Baby
:: Inside This House is Made of Corners ::
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The Future is Our Way Out
The hope for a place where, when all is said and done, there is no suffering. Only love, reunion, peace, acceptance.
Impressively Average
Very simply, a ton of negative thoughts spilling out into a song that could be no other way than what it is.
Eddie My Love
An anthem of love. Period.
You Are Only Made Of Dreams
Inspired by a true story that a beautiful friend of mine shared with me about his life. One which will never be shared in any capacity other than this song.
Palm of Your Hand
This from the jump was always supposed to be a true love song. We’re from Chicago, so think of this one as a nod to John Hughes. Our John Hughes track.
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:: stream/purchase This House is Made of Corners here ::
:: connect with Brigitte Calls Me Baby here ::
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