Buddhi drops ‘The Legend of Jim Brown’

• Available for purchase and streaming on the Audius platform today onwards

By Sarah Hannan

This year seems to be the year of legendary album releases, especially for Sri Lankan musicians who are taking the world music scene by storm. Even for numerologists 22 February 2022 is a significant day, and for Buddhi de Mal, this is the day he releases The Legend of Jim Brown – a concept album, on the Audius* platform.

The storyteller and independent artist behind this album, Buddhi de Mal, needs no long introductions, especially for those who have been following his works from his days in Wagon Park. Buddhi currently residing in Los Angeles, US, is constantly working on making new music, and is collaborating with world musicians residing in North America as well as his artiste circle in Sri Lanka.

The album The Legend of Jim Brown captures Buddhi’s signature melodies which any fan of his music would easily recognise. The Legend of Jim Brown pays homage to the musical genres he draws influence from that has a mix of blues, baila, reggae, and rock ‘n’ roll.

Speaking to Brunch about the concept behind the album, Buddhi stated: “Jim Brown is a rebel leader, reincarnating into rebellious life cycles, and in his final lifetime, becomes a rebel leader. The twist in the plot is that in each of his life cycles he is killed by his archenemy.”

Further elaborating on the thinking behind the concept, Buddhi noted the song Shot from Behind is essentially the protagonist realising that he had been reincarnated after being killed by the same person who had derailed his cause, while the rest of the nine songs give glimpses of the many lives he had lived.

Brunch was given exclusive access to a preview of the entire album earlier this month, giving us hope that this album will become an instant hit among any age group. If we were to pick a favourite, we would choose Man on the Walk as Buddhi infuses the textures of baila perfectly into the song. The song perfectly reflects traits of many Sri Lankans who love to share their life experiences, bring out wisdom quotes, and are always ready to give life advice to youngsters.

The entire album takes the listener through a roller coaster of emotions, which includes songs that have the potential to become anthems and build timeless pieces of music mastery that will continue to blare out from sound systems at home, in cars, at gatherings, and even in big-match circuits as well.

For those who will be streaming or purchasing The Legend of Jim Brown, the album cover illustrations done by Kyle Sampath Valentine will effortlessly catch visual attention.

The album includes song titles such as: Shot from Behind, Oh What a Shame, Ray of Love, Wild Energy, Man on the Walk, Interview, It’s Alright. I’m Going. Bye, I Have the Freedom, We Will Get High, and I Shall Be. 

The album was recorded at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California, US by Recording Engineers Cristobal Cordero, Rob Harkness, Joseph Sebastian, and Sashank Venkatesh (Assistant Producer), with Buddhi standing in as Producer. 

The audio for The Legend of Jim Brown was mixed and mastered at Forty Below Records by Grammy-nominated Engineer Eric Corne.

The following artistes contributed towards shaping the music of the album: piano – Mahesh Balasooriya (Grammy-nominated Sri Lankan pianist); guitars – Bhargav Choudhury, Sashank Venkatesh, Antoine Salem, Jose Abujamra/Illegal Joe, Ranil Goonewardene, Milinda Batuvanthudave, Andrew Tokko; bass –  Zach Hall, Jungshi Iyer; upright bass – Nai Han Jeng; drums and percussions – Blair Shotts; synth – Arthur Pochon; keys – Katsuya Sezaki, Marc Dold, Karen Hammack; vocals – Anna Atwater (It’s Alright. I’m Going. Bye), Elijah C. Sinthaby (Shot from Behind and Interview), Onella, Marie Weill, J-Nil Peiris (Wild Energy), Michael Gum, Misha Santoria; and violin – Lucia La Reza. 

*Audius is a San Francisco-based tech startup that is harnessing the power of block chain and crypto to forge a new direction for music distribution.