Proud pop star does it his way

It’s been six long years since he appeared in John Cameron Mitchell’s groundbreaking 2006 look at sex, Shortbus, but the spectre of the film still looms large for singer-songwriter Jay Brannan.

Perhaps its because the character he played in the film, Ceth, who engaged in an explicit gay threeway and sang the American national anthem while using co-star Paul Dawson’s erection as a microphone, sits so at odds with the earnest, lo-fi folk music Brannan’s released since.

Surprisingly, given Shortbus co-star Sook Yin-Lee almost lost her job as a Canadian VJ when the film was released, Brannan insisted the lasting effects of the film had been nothing but positive.

“It was the most meaningful, special, exciting thing I’ve ever been a part of,” he told the Star Observer from his New York home, where he’d flown mid-tour to do check in and do some laundry (“It’s an expensive load of laundry!”).

“I met some of the most amazing people and developed some of the most intimate friendships that I still have to this day. It was such an organic, collaborative experience that is not common in the movie industry.

“Plus, I’ve gotten to play my music all over the world because of the exposure from that small independent film. The first time I played in London and Paris, I had sold-out shows just because of the movie.”

Brannan can no doubt expect a similarly warm reception when he makes his third Australian visit in four years at the end of June, introducing Australian fans to tracks from his newly released third album, Rob Me Blind.

The album represents something of a step up for the proudly DIY artist: in Australia, he’s releasing his music via a major label (EMI) for the first time, and the album was produced by
studio veteran David Kahne, whose fingerprints are all over hits by artists including Stevie Nicks and The Bangles.

Brannan admitted it’d taken a lot of hard work to get to this point.

“It’s a very difficult industry. It takes a lot of pushing. I feel like I’ve had great opportunities and I’ve had missed opportunities. I don’t have proper management and I haven’t in three years, so a lot of it I do myself.

“Sometimes I definitely feel like I’m in over my head and I think, ‘Oh shit, what am I doing? I feel like I’m going to fuck everything up!’

“It’s [harder] for someone like me who’s a bit of an oddball. I’m opinionated, I was in a movie with explicit sex in it, I made YouTube videos of myself singing on the toilet with my pants down.

“A lot of mainstream labels and radio stations get nervous with anything that could potentially polarise their fan bases, so I’ve learned to take the reins and do it myself.”

That aforementioned YouTube video is one of many Brannan’s uploaded onto his official channel. Sitting in his apartment, he’ll strap on a guitar and croon everything from a hit of the day (Lana Del Rey’s Video Games) to a lost classic (a stunning version of Alanis Morissette’s a capella Jagged Little Pill album closer, Your House).

Brannan’s often professed his love of singing — one gets the sense he’d still be happy if he was just making YouTube videos.

“I don’t know that I’d be happy. I’m sure I’d feel a little bit trapped and frustrated if I was just singing in my bathroom every day.

“But I have to remind myself that I love to sing, because the business and the commercialisation and the ‘selling it’ to the world can be one of the easiest ways to ruin it for yourself.

“I’ve tried to quit the entertainment industry several times, but I always end up coming back to it. I just don’t know what else to do with myself!”

It’s hard not to notice the uniting thread with many of these covers — they’re almost exclusively songs by female artists. Brannan admitted that, like many other gay men, he feels a particularly strong connection to women who sing.

“To me, it seems like a lot of people gravitate towards male vocalists and I’ve always felt like a bit of an oddball because I go for female voices. I don’t know how to explain it, but there’s a frequency, a vibration of a vocal in a certain range that a lot of women have that really hits you. It’s something I aim for when I’m singing too.

“Maybe that’s too scientific or too technical, I don’t know. I could probably theorise about it for years.”

INFO: Rob Me Blind out now. Jay Brannan plays Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, June 28 – 30. www.jaybrannan.com