Prior to my career with KUTX, my main musical contributions were on trumpet as part of fifteen-piece’s hefty horn section. And speaking from personal experience, it’s incredibly liberating to spend time outside of a big group and redirect some focus towards solo songwriting.

So based on his time playing bass with Minneapolis eleven-piece Black Market Brass, I’m sure that multi-instrumentalist/producer Charlie Bruber is having a ball breaking out and hopping behind the mic, front-and-center for the first time. This endeavor’s inception came when Bruber stumbled across the remarkably-rare EMS Polysynthi and picked up where Pink Floyd, Gong, and Tangerine Dream left off more than half a century ago. A bit before the start of the pandemic, Bruber holed up in his home studio and invited an assortment of friends and acquaintances to tinker around with the Polysynthi’s vast idiosyncratic potential.

Next Tuesday the fruits of Charlie Bruber’s labor finally touch down with Finding the Muse. At sixteen tunes, Finding the Muse is a sprawling amalgamation of unfettered feelings, earworm melodies, and full-bodied arrangements that are a testament to unrushed, collaborative greatness. And today Charlie Bruber burst out with another infectiously-mellifluous offering ahead of Finding the Muse. Appearing at the LP’s halfway mark, “Bubble” confidently steers clear of over-saturated pop formulas with damp drumscapes, tranquil tempo shifts, and softly-sung phrases that sound like the vocal chords of Chaz Bundick, Roger Waters, and David Gilmour had a mellow lovechild.