Kunin re-emerges with Bright Archer
It’s been five years since Johanna Kunin released her debut album, “Clouds Electric.”
In that time the piano songstress has relocated from Seattle to Portland and joined three bands, falling in with Portland’s incestuous chamber-pop scene.
And Kunin, now performing under the Bright Archer moniker, has brought all of that experience to her sophomore release, “Hidden Systems.”
Released in June, “Hidden Systems” is steeped in expectedly serene and subtle piano-led tunes paired with Kunin’s breathy vocals. Her signature formula is further enhanced by an impressive list of guests whose names are familiar to Portland as well as Spokane indie-rock followers.
The 11-track record features appearances by Amanda Lawrence from Norfolk and Western – who also has performed with one of Kunin’s other bands, AgesandAges – on cello and violin; Velella Velella’s former Spokanites, Andrew Means on guitar and Michael Burton on flute; former Spokane journalist and current guitarist for Team Evil, Jeremy Hadley; former Spokane clarinetist Thomas Ruble from Popular Butchers; and three-fourths of PDX indie-pop standouts Point Juncture, WA, including Amanda Spring on bass, vocals and drums, Victor Paul Nash on vibraphone and trumpet, and Skyler Norwood on drums.
For the first time, Kunin sat in the driver’s seat for the album’s production, sharing duties with Norwood, who has produced records for Horse Feathers, Blind Pilot, Talkdemonic and other Portland cohorts.
Even the physical construction of the album is representative of Kunin’s transition from Seattle to Portland. All of the piano parts were recorded at Seattle’s Other Room, while everything else with tracked at Norwood’s Miracle Lake Studios.
Styles morph from jazz-based melodies – indicative of her formal music education during her college years in Seattle – to more straight ahead indie-rock, as well as influences from 1970s radio rock, drawing from Norwood’s vinyl collection.
Lyrically, “Hidden Systems” looks back to Kunin’s upbringing in Minnesota, reflecting her fascination with naturalism as well as her penchant for abstract, obscure imagery.
On “Sunrising” she laments, “The oceans rest, the oceans sing, to bring our souls,” while on Underground she delves beneath the surface watching “Lava, the ancient wellspring.”
And on “Ascensions,” Kunin turns her eyes toward the clouds, mirroring similar wispy sentiments on “Skies Wide Open,” leading to the album’s closer, “The Giver’s Gone,” where she proclaims, “This is how we are made.”
While moonlighting between her three different bands – AgesandAges, Velella Velella and Loch Lomond – Kunin has re-rooted herself musically without leaving her identity behind in the process.
Even by a different name, Bright Archer is still very much Johanna Kunin.