Album Review: The Brigadier — Sailing the Seven Neuroses

I reviewed The Brigadier’s Wash Away the Day back in 2017, and named it one of the year’s best. Here we are eight years later, and the Brigadier (Matt Williams to his neighbors) returns with Sailing the Seven Neuroses. The Pet Sounds-y textures and male-rethink-of-girl group vibes are still here, but they’re buried deep inside a modern (or let’s say timeless) rock package that has more grit and muscle than before.

Imagine Pilot, Badfinger or Raspberries mixed with a bit of Hudson Brothers, and then any and all of the twee-ness skimmed off the top. What you’d find is something not unlike the Brigadier circa 2025. Synthy bits that suggest ‘80s Gary Numan are seamlessly melded with Beach Boys harmonies and Fountains of Wayne rock crunch.

Williams’ knowing way with a melody – and how to arrange it – is on brilliant display on tunes like “The Purge.” And rather than sequence the songs with a few seconds between each, he’s programmed Sailing the Seven Neuroses in such a way that it’s a seamless whole. Not, perhaps a concept album. Not, it would seem, a unified suite of songs. But a collection that feels like all of its parts belong together: that’s the quality that underpins this album.

The songs blow by in a breeze, with Williams’ breathy yet assured vocals as the element that ties everything together. The bouncy Sgt. Pepper-style pop of “Peace With the Poison” coexists nicely with the summery, elegiac SMiLE-ish “Perfect Surprise.” The baroque balladry of the first part of “Hot Solace” gives way to its uptempo second half; it’s a progressive pop gem that clocks in under four minutes.

The spirit of Brian Wilson is most evident on the title track; if you luxuriate in mid-sixties Beach Boys studio work, you’ll, um, smile when you hear it. But then there’s the muscular rocking of “Man About the House.” Part of The Brigadier’s unique gift is that it all works, it works together, and it doesn’t feel scattered.

The bloop-bleepiness of “Heaven’s in My Heart” could have been on an album called The Brigadier Loves You, if you get my drift. “It’s You I Think About” is creamy synthy pop with an alluring rock edge. “Everyday an Ordeal” is retro in character, but in a good way. The glam-rocky “What About Tomorrow?” is fun, stomping rock a la Sweet. And “Don’t Go to Bed With a Bad Mind” is the Brigadier’s rethink of British popsike, late ‘60s edition.

A wonderful collection, Sailing the Seven Neuroses is a shiny pop delight of the first order.