Kings of the Brushwood Thicket’s mysterious origins can be traced back to Jamaica, Queens. It is the site of the bands first recordings, which subsequently make up the body of the debut album The Lies You Leave Behind; a stripped down collection of Bowie-esque musings over acoustic guitar, shrouded in digital ambience. The emotionally straightforward vibe of the music was partly inspired by Springsteen’s sparse masterpiece Nebraska but owes a good deal of its probing authenticity to real life events.

The project is the brain child of Bruce Erik Brauer whose tenure as guitarist in NYC rock band Dog Society, an Atlantic Records alumni, baptized him in the fiery waters of the pre-digital record industry. It was the recent and sudden loss of both Bruce’s father and uncle that provided the spark for the acoustic work that soon flew under the Kings of the Brushwood Thicket banner.

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