Herman Brood

Brood’s early bands included the Moans and Cuby and the Blizzards, with later work in Vitesse before his own group, Wild Romance, became the central setting for his songs. The history begins with a pianist working inside bands, and that remains audible in the way the records move.

Street appeared in 1977, followed by Shpritsz in 1978. Saturday Night became the defining introduction to that period: the rhythm has a loose, insistent pull, and the vocal sounds like a performer addressing the room directly. The song’s swagger comes from the interaction of the parts, rather than one isolated gesture.

The catalogue continued through albums including Yada Yada, Hooks and Back on the Corner. Brood’s familiar public image can make the records seem easier to summarise than they really are. A restrained passage, a jazz-inflected turn or the placement of a piano chord can reveal a musician with more resources than the rough surface first suggests.

His painting formed another part of the same broad performing identity. In the music, too, a strong outline and an apparently spontaneous mark can carry a great deal of character.

The 2001 release of My Way gives the voice a very different kind of frame. The familiar song, with its English text by Paul Anka and French melodic origins, brings a large existing history into the performance.

Brood’s delivery does not try to erase that history or reproduce another singer’s polish. The grain of the voice changes the feeling of the melody. Heard beside Saturday Night, it offers another view of the same directness: a performer making the song sound as though it has to pass through him before reaching the listener.