Human Potential is the solo project of Andrew Becker; formerly the drummer for Dischord Records’ band, Medications and nefarious Brooklyn outfit, Screens.
After his latter group unceremoniously imploded in the summer of 2011, Becker consulted a high end, spiritual assassin who foretold a life just above the poverty line if he attempted to transpose the Bee Gees’ “1st” into an aural nightscape of loss, regret and heartache.
Needless to say, Becker was intrigued.
The journey began when Becker was bequeathed a nylon string guitar his grandfather had crafted out of the wheel wells of a Mazda 323 and some petrified sap from the famous, 1,500 year old Boab Prison Tree.
Unsure of what a chord was, he sat and looked quizzically at the instrument for more than a week before rapping hesitantly on the high E string. What peculiar sounds!
Hear a the track “Plastic Flowers” from Human Potential’s upcoming release, Heartbreak Record:
He immediately tried to silence the songbirds in his head by externalizing their Luciferian mandates; concocting extraordinarily supple sound sketches in a Brooklyn shack smeared with Isabelline parchment, before relocating to a friend’s haunted igloo in Granville, New York where he amalgamated the tones of tooth decay, ghost apnea and icy Green Mountain winds into a chewy pop pulp.
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With basic structural architecture completed, Becker contacted local engineering stalwart, Jeremy Scott, about capturing the velvety fistful of grotesqueries he’d been fastidiously woodshedding, like, for real. The two spent many months absorbing Becker’s pernicious guitar scum, pugnaciously pounded keyboard stabs, wanton trashcan bashing and strident yelps, which they then refined, mixed and overnighted to the astral plane for enhanced sonic sheen.
Borne out of these sanguine sessions is Heartbreak Record, a ten-song collection that spits in the pristine, black eyes of the Illuminati, and also provides a tender score for your rainy afternoon copulation.
Heartbreak Record, Human Potential’s debut album, is out June 3 on Becker’s own What Delicate Recordings.
Acoustic Nation is written by Laura B. Whitmore, a music industry marketing veteran, music journalist and editor, who has contributed to Parade.com, Guitar World, and others. She has interviewed hundreds of musicians and hosts the She Rocks Podcast. As the founder of the Women’s International Music Network, she advocates for women in the music industry and produces the annual She Rocks Awards. She is the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Positive Grid, making the world safe for guitar exploration everywhere! A guitarist and singer/songwriter, Laura is currently co-writing an album of pop songs that empower and energize girls.
