Gabe Greenland's 'Sunbrnd' Is Awesome, Non-Traditional Sad Pop-Punk

Gabe Greenland’s ‘Sunbrnd’ is eclectic, layered pop rock with a clean, sad tone tone. This artist describes himself as, “a Brooklyn-based singer, songwriter and producer from Los Angeles. Influenced by a disparate hodgepodge of west coast icons such as Stephen Malkmus, Flying Lotus and Russell Westbrook,” he aims to fuse “a deep knowledge of hip-hop production with modern punk-influenced slacker emo to create a personal brand that is both familiar and unique.” The saxophone work on here is really top-notch. Many a personally-oriented punk fan is prepared for the tired trumpet riffs that pepper modern Midwest emo, but the sax lines on here changes that convention up on a number of levels. Obviously, they possess possesses a much warmer, more expansive tone, but behind that, the way it defines the composition of this tune rather than accenting it is truly something new. It brings a punchy, retro flair to an otherwise grey, suburban tune. On another note, this artist clearly takes a lot of cues from hip-hop in terms of production. The cyclical nature of the percussion and other traditional rock instrumentation serves as a nice understated platform for the personality-rich vocal performance. This is a great showing from a talented artist. Check out ‘Sunbrnd’ below!