If A Song Fades Out, It’s Playing Forever Somewhere
Across ten tracks, If A Song Fades Out, It’s Playing Forever Somewhere finds Catherine Brookman exploring emotional collapse, heartbreak, loneliness, and the slippery nature of time through non-linear storytelling, visually evocative lyrics, and intricate songcraft. Made in collaboration with producer Chris Botta, the record brings together an all-star ensemble of genre-defying musicians—including Attacca Quartet’s Nathan Schram, Shahzad Ismaily, Tigue’s Matt Evans & Amy Garapic, Julia Adamy, Elijah Fox, Alex Babbitt, Elliot Cole, Aaron Roche, Joseph White, Meredith Monk Ensemble’s Gideon Crevoshay, Jacqui Cornetta, and Nathan Repasz — whose contributions shape a rich and expansive sonic landscape that amplifies Brookman's singular voice.
By mixing vocals with electronics, synthesizers, and poetry, Brookman’s music seeks to uncover the majestic inside of the mundane. The album meditates on time passing, collapsing, and looping back on itself—on unfinished business, depression, and the ways pain can unexpectedly transmute into beauty.
Written while walking alone through mountains, canyons, and forests, Brookman found nature to be not just a backdrop but a portal: “The river became a mirror,” she says.
Echoing the emotional heart of the record, producer Chris Botta reflects: “This record is about heartbreak and the transformative power of nature. Nature as a portal, as a longing, as an escape, as a reflection and an expansion.” At its core, If A Song Fades Out makes a case for admitting how much we need each other—for unapologetic vulnerability. It was made to make us feel less alone.
Throughout, Brookman gestures toward nature itself—the quiet ground beneath our feet and the vast sky above—as the ultimate frame for our lives, holding both our weight and our lightness, and reminding us that every step forward is part of a larger rhythm of being.
Catherine Brookman is a Brooklyn-based performer and composer whose music has been described by The New York Times as “vocally complex, rich and consistently surprising…[with a] sonic glow as entrancing as a phosphorescent sea." Her music seeks to uncover the majestic inside of the mundane by mixing vocals with electronics, synthesizers, and poetry. Originally from Baltimore, the classically-trained Brookman uses her voice as the primary instrument to create wordless vocal loops / samples to build dreamlike textures and soundscapes. Brookman combines storytelling techniques found in folk music with ambient landscapes to create a sonic cocoon, a soft landing space for heartbreak.
Along with making her own work, Brookman is an active performer in contemporary opera and theater at some of the top venues worldwide. She is a regular guest vocalist at the LA Philharmonic, performing works by Meredith Monk, Julius Eastman, and in the 6-hour opera Stranger Love. She has sung alongside artists such as Lorde, Esperanza Spalding, Louis Cole, and in the 2020 Vanguard Gala honoring Laurie Anderson. She has performed as a soloist with acclaimed ensembles such as Alarm Will Sound, the Orchestra of St Luke’s, and Wild Up, contributing vocals to their GRAMMY-nominated records: Julius Eastman, Vol 2 & 3.
