With a piano teacher for a mother and a father who collects percussion instruments, Bobby and Mariah Brown grew up with music. Countless vocal lessons and band practices led the siblings to discover what sets their band Longbird apart: a unique style.
“It’s easy, it’s natural and it’s fun,” Mariah Brown said. “We know exactly what to do and when to do it when we perform together.”
Bobby and Mariah Brown said Longbird was a long time coming. The siblings had been performing together since high school at coffee shops and church events in their hometown of Yuma, Ariz.
“Bobby and Mariah are amazingly talented musically, and they mesh well — actually perfectly — together because they’ve been playing music together since they were children,” said Will Leon, Longbird’s recording engineer. “Their chemistry together is ridiculous.”
Longbird kicked off when Bobby and Mariah Brown started writing songs for Longbird last summer.
“I always knew I wanted to do something with music,” Bobby Brown said. “I didn’t know it was going to be with my sister or what style, but that was the plan.”
In the writing process, the siblings don’t collaborate. Their performing and writing styles are different, but their familial bond makes their songs cohesive.
“I won’t talk to her about her lyrics, and she won’t talk to me about mine,” Bobby Brown said.
Bobby Brown, who writes all the instrument music, channels landscape imagery and feelings. Mariah Brown writes using metaphors and personal experience.
“It’s random and sporadic when I feel like writing,” Mariah Brown said. “It doesn’t depend on the emotional state I’m in. It just comes to me sometimes, and I’ll have to sit down right then and there and have to start writing.”
Sometimes, inspiration comes at inconvenient times.
“One time I was at work, so I snuck to the bathroom to sing a bit into my phone to make sure I didn’t forget it,” she said.
Longbird released its first album, Pioneer Cemetery, in September.
“Those four tracks are probably some of my most favorite tracks I’ve engineered,” Leon said.
Feedback has been positive.
“I listen to everything from punk to jazz, and the one thing I do get from their music is it’s very pleasing to listen to,” Leon said. “You can sit and listen to those same 20 minutes from Pioneer Cemetery for an hour and a half and you won’t get tired of it.”
Part of Longbird’s unique sound comes from its “math rock” style, which uses unusual time signatures and offbeats.
“It’s like when you’re nodding your head and then you realize you’re not on the beat anymore, even though you were nodding correctly the whole time,” Bobby Brown said.
Math rock gives Longbird a unique sound based on technique that differentiates the band from others.
“You can have gimmicks for your band, gimmicks in your songs, any kind of gimmick to get people to listen to your songs, but none of it matters if you don’t have quality music done well,” Leon said.
Since the album was released, Longbird has been contacted to play shows at different venues. But there’s just one problem — the band isn’t ready.
Longbird originated in Yuma with Bobby and Mariah Brown’s close friends whom they used to jam with, Bobby Brown said. After the duo started school at Arizona State University, they had to leave their original bandmates behind.
Bobby Brown studies nursing on ASU’s Downtown campus, and Mariah Brown studies music therapy on the Tempe campus. Longbird has been recruiting musicians since the beginning of this year.
Mariah Brown said the natural chemistry between her and her brother helps other people feel more comfortable to express themselves. So far, bonding with new band members has been easy.
“One of the best things is being able to perform with people you’re comfortable with,” Mariah Brown said. “You look over at each other and think it’s just the best and just smile,”
Once Longbird has permanent members, the band hopes to break into the downtown music scene, Bobby Brown said. The hope is to book shows at Crescent Ballroom or Trunk Space, he said. Longbird hopes to play at First Fridays too.
For Bobby and Mariah Brown, music is a shared experience between brother and sister, performer and audience, band and community.
“The thing I like most about music is connection to people,” Bobby Brown said. “That feeling of connecting with someone is a really awesome feeling. Knowing that you created something that someone else can appreciate on an emotional level is what keeps us going.”
Contact the reporter at Katherine.Sitter@asu.edu
