Title: My Disenchanted Society
Released: August 12, 2012
Format: CD Single, Digital Download, Airplay
Recorded: Three Crow Studios, Los Angeles, California
Genre: Alternative Rock, Americana, Country, Southern Rock
Length: 4:52
Label: Chaos Records
Writer: Brandon Caulfield
Producer: Brandon Caulfield, JR Rhythm

“My Disenchanted Society” is a song by American singer-songwriter ‘Brandon Caulfield’, taken from his third studio album ‘Tales From The Heartlands’, debuting on the Album Charts at #3, making it his most succesfull album thus far in his relatively short career. 'My Disenchanted Society' will serve as the second official single released from his latest studio effort, following his previous single and first ever number #1 ‘The Ballad Of A Vagabond (feat. Cristina Lake)’. The song was written and produced by Caulfield with additional production from regular collaborator ‘JR Rhythm’ between June and July 2012 and is generally considered the song that created the basis for the sound and general tone of his third studio album, in comparison to his previous single this track has much more of an Americana vibe.
Rolling Stone said this of the track, “It’s lyrics paint an image of a lone troubadour travelling down the dusty south-western highways having become tired of the rich and greedy nature of a place that once was noble and heavily respected, its inhabitants unwilling to take a stand but the character of the song is and in doing so is forced out of his society, he takes this an opportunity to search for the things that no longer exist in the aforementioned society in the hopes of proving that commercialisation and greed don’t have to be the only way forward. It’s a modern day tale that draws influence from the dust bowl elements of the literary greats and proves that there is still room for traditionalism”. It is the second track on the album’s running order and was considered by many album reviews as a particular highlight of the album, making the decision to release it as the second single a relatively obvious choice for Brandon Caulfield and the label in which the song will be distributed, Chaos Records.

The track is clear indication of the direction that Caulfield took on his most recent album, preferring to move away from the quiet eeriness of his previous work into a more fully-fledged rock singer-songwriter route with rather significant Americana influences, this track in particular is heavily drenched with a southern rock feel to it, most notable by Caulfield’s acoustic guitar playing and the raspy country-esque vocal delivery by the singer-songwriter. The song was written in late June 2012 by Brandon Caulfield and was recorded throughout July at Three Crow Studios in Los Angeles, California during the recording sessions for ‘Tales From The Heartlands’ alongside JR Rhythm that helped to create the Southern Rock feel to the track’s guitar instrumentation throughout as he has done previously on a number of records from his own historic band ‘The Bards’.
The song will be available to purchase from August 12, 2012, as a CD single and Digital Download as well as being made available for Airplay.

BACKGROUND, LYRICAL THEME & SONG DESCRIPTION

“My Disenchanted Society” is a track that was instrumental for a number of months, the acoustic guitar chords and progression was written back in March 2012 one evening at his home in Los Angeles, California and it was generally forgotten about by Brandon up until he started to put plans together for a new full length studio album which is when he picked up where he had left of with the instrumentation. He headed into Three Crow Studios ahead of the recording sessions for ‘Tales From The Heartlands’ and began tweaking the acoustic based instrumental song which upon entering the studio was over eight minutes in length, early discussions with fellow musician and close friend ‘Sarah Jade Harrison’ seemed to indicate that he felt that the song’s general energy and tone meant that at over eight minutes it was far too long, he continued to tweak the songs composition until he had something a little over five minutes in length and began working on lyrics that matched the songs chord structure.
The song’s actual lyrical development was completed within the first couple of weeks of June, bringing a more interesting Americana influence to the song that at that point sounded more like a country-rock track than anything else, it was one of the first fully completed songs for what eventually became his third studio album and serve from the point of view of various critics as Brandon’s way of making the transition from his previous material to his new material a relatively easy one for fans of his own work as this song features elements of his previous dour alternative folk and the more accessible rock elements that appeared more and more on his latest album. It was noted early on that this was a likely reason for its early appearance in the albums official running order and was generally considered to be a good decision.

When asked about the song’s early stages and Brandon’s initial thoughts of the song his close friend, who was in the studio for the vast majority of the recent album seemed to think that it signalled the moment when Brandon Caulfield found his route not only for the album but even perhaps for the majority of his recording career, “I worked closely with him since his debut record, granted it wasn’t a million years ago but it certainly feels that way when you look at things objectively from afar now. He was extremely quiet like some sort of softly spoken brooding weirdo. But when he started playing his guitar it was obvious that there was something within him that was worth getting out. I was there during the recording of his second album and it was very much the same, he was always on the verge of having everything fall perfectly into place to become an incredibly musician but again there was something stopping him from taking that step, at times it seemed like he was almost going out of his way to make sure that he didn’t get a hit single or a number one record and the songs could have quite easily provided those things but he seemed to back away from that particular thing and when you get to know him I guess you get a small idea of why that is.
But on this record and I guess really ever since the last record he’s grown-up and even become unafraid to be recognised with achievements and such, he realises that you can have commercial success without jeopardising your work or art and that’s the difference now, he’s created a record that I feel is extremely accessible and it’s almost proven by giving him his first real hit single with “The Ballad Of A Vagabond” and it’s like he’s become more comfortable with creating, he never knew where he wanted to go during the first two albums but he has a much better idea of what paths he’d like to take as a musician, what he does well and what he doesn’t do well and I think that’s something he’s worked on for the best part of this past year.”

The song’s theme is that of a person that wants to be almost exiled from his own surroundings and the superficial nature of a world that we occupy, Caulfield sings of a guy that just wants to live a life more free after seemingly becoming disenchanted by the places that he lives as the songs title suggests. It’s perhaps a companion piece for his last album ‘Into The Wild Part II’ and as the first fully fledged track from this album, perhaps it’s inclusion so soon in the album is done somewhat purposefully as a way to make the transition from his last LP#. It’s introduction comes in the form of three short sharp taps on the base of Brandon’s acoustic guitar which is quickly followed by the combination of acoustic twang from Brandon’s guitar playing and the southern sounding twang of the slide guitar from JR Rhythm’s guitar playing, the two mix well together to create a rather well paced and energetic song and it’s the guitar combination that draw you into the song in the first place and the strong folk-rock tinged vocals and lyrics provided by Brandon that make you want to continue to listen, particularly the power of his vocal early in the song as he growls out the following lines “Don’t you see, because it’s pretty clear to me/That I’d rather be a pariah than a refugee” a lyrical theme that he continues with for the next verse “I’d rather be a pauper than a prince/I’d rather be a punk than a poet/I’d rather be a pilgrim than a prophet/I’d rather be a stranger than a stereotype”. The twangs of the guitars continue throughout the whole of the song and midway through the track, they get space to maneuver and the echoed nature of the songs southern rock guitars are pushed to the forefront for a sixteen second solo, the lyrics then come back into the song with the same bite and aggression as before and as the final verse appears Brandon’s vocals become more breathy almost like he’s taken a punch to the stomach and had the wind momentarily knocked out of him.

LYRICS

Society
Abandon me
Down this empty road
So that I can learn to be free
Let me travel down the dusty highway
Where only the lonely people goes
Let me travel down this familiar terrain
Where the wild wind blows

Society
Abandon me
Down the dusty plain
So that I can start again
I’ll trudge through the swamps and the forests
To make things right
I’ll be forever in the dark
Like a thief in the night

Don’t you see
Because it’s pretty clear to me
That I’d rather be a pariah than a refugee
I’d rather be a traveller with just another song to sing
I’d rather be a rebel than a king
Because power changes
Everything

I’d rather be a pauper than a prince
Because I’d learn to appreciate
All the small things
I’d rather be a punk than a poet
I’d rather be a pilgrim than a prophet
I’d rather be a stranger than a stereotype
I’d rather be alone
Like a thief in the night

Disenchanted society
Send me away
When you’re done with me
I’ll wander through the empty fields
Forever, alone
I’ll start over again
Find a new place to call home

Don’t you see
Because it’s pretty clear to me
That I’d rather be a pariah than a refugee
I’d rather be a traveller with just another song to sing
I’d rather be a rebel than a king
Because power changes
Everything

I’d rather be a pauper than a prince
Because I’d learn to appreciate
All the small things
I’d rather be a punk than a poet
I’d rather be a pilgrim than a prophet
I’d rather be a stranger than a stereotype
I’d rather be alone
Like a thief in the night

PERSONNEL
Brandon Caulfield – vocals, acoustic guitar, lyrics, production
JR Rhythm – slide guitar, backing vocals, production
Haley Caulfield – photography, artwork

SOUNDS LIKE
Bright Eyes; Another Travelin’ Song
> The instrumentation and vocals are similar <