"Secret bird in the sky / How high can you fly / How many people have lived out the fantasy / Of flying an eagle made out of a metal alloy / I think it is a dream / I think that I would scream..."
The curiously compelling, beautiful indie rock breadth of "Nighthawk" by the enigmatic Pre Brain Coffee, the project of singer-songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Parker Rowland, feels inspired, is utterly original, smashing together pop and indie rock fusions in abstract ways like an amalgam of Todd Rundgren and Stephen Malkmus (Pavement). I am adoring the pounding piano clarity against guitar distortions, the jammy nature of it all with drums / bass anchoring it all down with a sense of proggy intent, in fact, the entire arrangement has a jazz pop aesthetic. Was Rowland a jazz kid in highschool? I don't know but I would bet a dozen donuts, ok maybe not a dozen but 10 (I love donuts to much to lose a whole dozen) that he was.
Lyrically, "Nighthawk", takes an endearing sort of absurdist approach and I love how the vocal flow feel soaked in a gentle mix of melancholia and even desperation. The ebb and flow, the use of forays into classical places and progressive rock / art rock leans works wonderfully. The Rundgren-esque escapism meets 'charming your pants off' is here, the 70's trippy or psychedelia is here too as is the Pavement sense of abstractness and I did need to hear "You Are A Light" from Terror Twilight as well as Rundgren's "I Saw The Light" from Something / Anything? after repeatedly listening to "Nighthawk", not because these songs sound at all the same but because all three of them illuminate.
LYRICS
Secret bird in the sky
How high can you fly
How many people have lived out the fantasy
Of flying an eagle made out of a metal alloy
I think it is a dream
I think that I would scream
I want to fly
I asked God why
He put me in this body that is
So damn constrained by gravity
He did not even give me wings or strings
If you ask me, I don’t think it’s funny
Sometimes I feel low
So low and so slow
I want the freedom of a bird of paradise
Without any reason or the moral sense that
We are led astray by
I want the sun and skies
What if Jesus Christ could fly
Like unidentified flying object aliens
Christ give me your powers of levitation
I want to go see the space station
How high can you fly
How many people have lived out the fantasy
Of flying an eagle made out of a metal alloy
I think it is a dream
I think that I would scream
I want to fly
I asked God why
He put me in this body that is
So damn constrained by gravity
He did not even give me wings or strings
If you ask me, I don’t think it’s funny
Sometimes I feel low
So low and so slow
I want the freedom of a bird of paradise
Without any reason or the moral sense that
We are led astray by
I want the sun and skies
What if Jesus Christ could fly
Like unidentified flying object aliens
Christ give me your powers of levitation
I want to go see the space station
I want to fly
I asked God why
He put me in this body that is
So damn constrained by gravity
He did not even give me wings or strings
If you ask me, I don’t think it’s funny
I asked God why
He put me in this body that is
So damn constrained by gravity
He did not even give me wings or strings
If you ask me, I don’t think it’s funny
"Nighthawk" is from Pre Brain Coffee's self titled album that just dropped on April 16th, 2025.
-Robb Donker Curtius
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.youtube.com/@PreBrainCoffee
https://www.instagram.com/prebraincoffee/
https://prebraincoffee.bandcamp.com/album/pre-coffee-brain
Indie rock song with a melancholy / angst tone about existential questions; themes about flying, birds, and aliens.
Indie rock song with a melancholy / angst tone about existential questions; themes about flying, birds, and aliens.
Pre Brain Coffee, singer songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Parker Rowland, indie pop, indie rock, jazz, progressive, original, piano clarity, guitar distortions, "Nighthawk", new album "Pre Brain Coffee",
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