Brittany Davis's 'Image Issues' Is An Auditory Odyssey of Trials and Triumph
I had barely been in Seattle eight hours when I saw Brittany Davis performing at the Rabbit Box for the first time. Earlier that day, I had completely uprooted my life, leaving behind my home at an abusive commune and a toxic partner. My mind was in a haze, as I struggled to process that I wasn’t in Los Angeles anymore and that I had made a massive decision that had changed the trajectory of my life. During that time, I felt as if I had jumped off a plane without a parachute and had hopes I’d land gracefully on my feet.
After seeing a post on Instagram, I decided to head over to the Rabbit Box by Pike Place Market since it was within walking distance of where I was staying. The venue was mellow that night and a bit more intimate than I was comfortable with in my confused state. I was accidentally late to the show, with Davis wrapping up their set. While Davis sang, I hung out by the bar, enjoying my first celebratory drink in my new city. At the end of the set, Davis spoke with a conviction on par with a seasoned evangelical. The last song of the night was oddly fitting to the circumstances, “I Choose to Live,” which can be found on Davis’s EP of the same name. Following the performance, I had more of a sense of calm in where my new life was going.
Right off the bat, I admired Davis’s extraordinary ability to capture a room and the immense display of vulnerability laid out on the stage. Davis has a proclivity to not only sing about trauma and adversity but rise above it. Additionally, I noticed that Davis’s unique musical perspective offers an overall message that uplifts the listeners, no matter how they identify or where they come from.
On March 1st, Davis released their debut album Image Issues through Seattle-based Loosegroove Records, which was co-founded by Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam, BRAD, Mother Love Bone) and Regan Hagar (BRAD, Satchel, Malfunkshun). Loosegroove currently boasts an eclectic, yet exciting group of talents which also includes up-and-comer Zoser, Jonny Polonsky, Mason Jennings, U.K.-based bands Tigercub, and James and the Cold Gun, as well as Painted Shield of which Davis, Gossard, and Jennings are a part of alongside Matt Chamberlain and Jeff Fielder.
Image Issues was written, composed, engineered, and performed entirely by Davis and co-produced by Josh Evans (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Brandi Carlile). Mentored and championed by Gossard, Davis has let loose on a record unlike anything else available right now… and it certainly does call for a celebration of Davis’s accomplishment.
This past weekend, Loosegroove put on a three-part showcase and celebration of Davis’s work, alongside some other artists on the label. Once again, Davis played an intimate set at the Rabbit Box, which was preceded by a record release party at West Seattle’s storied Easy Street Records. The next day, Loosegroove took residence in the historic Paramount theater for a revue—allowing a stage that’s well-deserved for Davis to exhibit to a larger audience.
Recorded over a few years, Image Issues is an auditory odyssey of the mind of Davis, serving as a “sonic film” that includes perceptions and recollections with Davis’s innermost thoughts spread throughout. It’s an extraordinarily raw portrait of the artist and their existence in a series of songs that traverse genre and are intertwined with spoken word segments entitled “Treadmill Memories.” Through 26 tracks, Davis, to put it plainly, lays their shit on the table and shows us life as a Black, blind, and non-binary musician navigating a world rife with racism, ableism, and fatphobia. One of the main driving forces of Image Issues is that Davis encourages the listener to experience movies and sound as they do.
Davis, for about an hour, takes listeners on a journey of humble beginnings in Kansas City to grappling with cycles of abuse, family incarceration, losing their father, struggling with bodily image, confusing relationship dynamics, and dealing with new success as an artist. Shattering the confines of genre and form, Image Issues launches with a spoken word intro and takes off with tunes that are comprised of house, ‘90s R&B, ‘70s disco and soul, hip hop, and gospel, among others.
Though Davis’s Inner Saboteur lingers throughout the tracks, Davis also teeters between meditations on grief and loss, and lots of frustration, yet is also affirming to themselves and listeners. Toward the end of the record with the song “Soft As the Sand,” Davis takes a step off the cyclical treadmill and moves toward inner peace and self-acceptance. Image Issues, at its core, is a huge middle finger to the box that many Black creatives are so often placed. It shrugs off social expectations and the limits of creative expression. It is a love letter not only to the other “big, broke, Black, and blind bitches,” but to Davis themself.
Some of Image Issues’ standout tracks are the atmospheric “Through the Motions,” the melancholy ode to Davis’s father “Daddy’s Gerl,” the intense “Follow My Lead,” the uplifting anthem “So Fly,” and the crowd-pleasing track “Sepricon.”
Davis’s words were poignant and moved me as a fat (half) Black woman who has been moving past trauma, taking on my image issues, and consistently navigating spaces where I am almost always one of the few, and at times, the only of my kind. At times, Davis’s words were even quite sobering and difficult to digest, but crucial while I work to get off the metaphorical treadmill of my own and continue towards a journey of self-acceptance and healing from abuse and how I sometimes fear how society perceives me.
Following the release of Image Issues and the Loosegroove Revue, I am hopeful to see that Davis’s “sonic film” will reach more people who really could benefit from hearing it. Those incendiary words just might be what they need.
Image Issues is now available on all major streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and more.
The record was released on March 1st and is also now available.