Taken from Garrett Owen’s upcoming album ‘Memoriam’ (due out in November), “Beautiful Stain” is an emotional exploration of memory, loss and creating art from personal items.
Stream: “Beautiful Stain” – Garrett Owen
When we think of a stain, we tend to think of something unwanted and persistent – an inconvenience spoiling what beforehand may have seemed new.
It’s likely a mark on an object, like an item of clothing or something decorative in a home. However, it could also be a stain in the memory, a moment or period that haunts you. It doesn’t always have to be negative though. We can find beauty in the unexpected and the unwanted and we can turn persistant memories into something magic.
Carve your name in my face
I wanna know I belong to you
Gettin’ hard to walk on your egg shells
While I’m chasin’ you
While I’m chasin’ you
Just let me remain
A spot on your brain
A beautiful stain
A beautiful stain
A beautiful stain
Atwood Magazine is proud to be premiering “Beautiful Stain,” the first single from Garrett Owen’s third studio album, Memoriam, due for release November 1. Fueled by comfort and melancholy, with a chorus that rises in emotion, “Beautiful Stain” is an exploration of memory, loss and the creation of art.
“This song was inspired in part by some of the beautiful things my grandma started doing after her Alzheimer’s and Dementia started, like collecting Cicada molts, feathers and acorn shells, and decorating her dresser with them. Or collecting dead branches from the yard and putting them in little bowls of water with hope to revive them,” Owen tells Atwood Magazine. “It was profound to realize that this dysfunction happening in her brain, that was staining everything in her life, was also bringing about some beauty, compelling her to do amazing, creative things she wouldn’t have done before.”
The song starts with twinkling plucks of guitar and vocals that drift yearningly- typical dreamy folk that’s like recounting memories and anecdotes from the past and preserving them as daydreams in the present. The chorus explodes in the style of a power pop ballad, encouraging a fist pump and sing-along moment, before descending to the gentle plucks again. The combination of the two is a type of sadness that brings comfort, the comfort thus leading to beauty.
While “Beautiful Stain” was partly inspired by Garrett Owen’s grandmother, the lyrics could easily apply to any relationship. There’s the sense of longing but also the fading away, like a tug of war between the physical and the absence. This can also be represented in the contrast of sounds between the verses and the chorus, the song concluding with a continuation of the power pop forcefulness.
I’ve got a new favorite
Woman she writes me
I don’t speak her language
But I read the letters daily
She ain’t in my past life
She ain’t in my future
She’s out there in the middle
And I wish I’d seen it sooner
“Regarding recording, I was at a place with the song where I had these little vignettes from different relationships coming together, but it didn’t feel complete,“ Owen explains to Atwood Magazine. “I pressed record on the little device I make demo’s with, and that bridge to outro section just came out right after the second chorus, all conceived right in this one little moment. Taylor Tatsch deserves full credit for the power pop vibe of the chorus / post chorus and suggesting I play the acoustic parts on the Resonator Guitar I think. I say things like “I want this to be big” and Taylor does it.”
Garrett Owen is a singer/songwriter from Texas whose music is imbued with poetry and rawness.
Memoriam is his third album and consists of tales of people in the memory as well as musings and personal reflections. As an opener, “Beautiful Stain” captures the attention of the listeners and also introduces a new musical side to the artist. It’s full of small contrasts that highlight the beauty in life.
— —
:: stream/purchase Beautiful Stain here ::
:: connect with Garrett Owen here ::
Stream: “Beautiful Stain” – Garrett Owen
— — — —
Connect to Garrett Owen on
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Discover new music on Atwood Magazine
© Brendan Blaney
© Brendan Blaney:: Stream Garrett Owen ::
