Photo by Ben Stas/Noise Floor Photography

Noah Britton certainly has a calling card, and it’s his voice. A deep, booming baritone capable of filling a whole room, Britton isn’t likely to fade into the background. And yet, for someone with such a particular way of speaking, the Boston-based artist formerly known as ACLU Benefit has found a lot of different ways to reach audiences. From sketch comedy on HBO to covering Joy Division in the style of Roy Orbison, the man has discovered a way to balance the austere and the absurd. So naturally it’s about time he used his own name.

Having already heard the Phil Elverum collaboration “Wings”, Noah Britton is sharing “My Son” with us today, the second single ahead of the I Love You EP, his first release under his birth name. As with the music Britton made under previous monikers ACLU Benefit and Request Freebird, I Love You takes a loose approach to genre, its six songs tethered instead by a loose concept about “different kinds of love he’s experienced” alongside his unmistakable baritone and plainspoken lyrics. “My Son” is a character song from the perspective of a father struggling to relate to his teenaged son. You know, sorta like that gaming meme we’ve all seen floating around Twitter. Britton’s tale reminisces about dirty diapers and childhood memories, bordering on parody if not for the conviction in his voice. It lends the perfect amount of gravity to the song’s outlaw-country jangle and sweetly rendered whistling, recalling Orville Peck with some of the melodrama scuffed off.

Britton had this to say about the song: 

“I wrote “My Son” while playing Guitarmageddon. Every week, me and a bunch of songwriters got together and each make up a song based on a title someone else in the group just made up. John Hollahan submitted “I wish I could understand my son” and I wrote “My Son” pretty much as it is on the spot.”