Seán Barna Announces New LP, ‘An Evening At Macri Park’ Out May 12 Via Kill Rock Stars
“Benjamin Whishaw Smiled”
Sean Barna
An Evening
at Macri Park
Out May 12
on Kill Rock Stars
Seán Barna Announces New LP,
‘An Evening At Macri Park’
Out May 12 Via Kill Rock Stars
Press Release
Singer-songwriter Seán Barna, a viscerally outspoken queer artist and performer, is embedded in the tradition of fearless queer storytelling. Today, he announces his second LP and Kill Rock Stars debut, An Evening at Macri Park—a character study of the dimly-lit Brooklyn queer bar, Macri Park, and the creatures who thrive within its walls.
Along with the announce comes anthemic lead-single "Benjamin Whishaw Smiled".
The accompanying visual directed by Diego Molina features Seán in the streets of NYC.
The Lumineers’ Stelth Ulvang plays on the track, as well as Zach Tenorio, the keyboardist for Arc Iris and Kimbra.
An Evening at Macri Park will be released May 12th, 2023 via Kill Rock Stars.
About the track, Barna offers: "As someone who has given up a life of stability to be an artist, the walk from the subway to your bartender job takes a daily toll. In my case, I walked through Greenwich Village, down W. 4th Street, past Bob Dylan’s early 60s home, past the photo setting for the cover of Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and, one day, passed actor Benjamin Whishaw eating at some bistro. He played Dylan in I’m Not There, but in my song, “Benjamin Whishaw Smiled,” he is my lover."
A simple declaration of peace and reality shouldn’t ignite a movement, but when it does, it’s good to have a photographer around.
And so it was, in April of 1966, when three patrons of NYC’s Julius’ bar stated: “We are homosexuals. We are orderly, we intend to remain orderly, and we are asking for service." Today, the photo of this moment hangs on the wall of Julius’. Today, gay bars in NYC are not only legal, but plentiful, thanks to the artistic tradition of telling the truth about a time and a place.
Seán was a semi-professional drummer by age fourteen and graduated with a degree in classical percussion at age twenty-two. Barna has since served as the drummer of Deaf West Theatre’s Los Angeles production of Spring Awakening and the national Broadway tour for The Producers. Living in Berlin in 2011, as a regular at an English-speaking open mic at the now-closed Neukölln bar, Lagari, Seán began to explore his voice as a songwriter.
Recorded at 1809 Studios in Macedon, NY, Seán would write late into the night as producer Dave Drago and his young children slept. Early in the morning, they would record the previous evening’s riches. Moving fast, the bar Macri Park became the center of a song cycle documenting giddiness, grief, history, and everything in-between. He enlisted friends, including Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz and David Immerglück, harpist and songwriter Mikaela Davis, Danielle Ponder, and Maria Taylor of Azure Rae, to bring this world to life.
The song cycle begins with barroom piano, a man alone in a room questioning his longevity in a scene that tests the limits of your health. The next song, “Disco Nap,” throws open the door to a room of colorful, fabulous characters. The strings, drums, and guitars welcome you to the party.
On “Sleeping With Strangers,” Seán reckons with the ghosts of the previous year, including his own near-death experience, the loss of his friend at the hands of an avalanche, and the exhaustion of keeping up with Brooklyn nightlife. He wonders aloud why Bob Dylan chose to release a 17-minute single in 2020, and why Lou Reed abused his trans girlfriend, Rachel Humphreys. “Lou was honest about characters, and I want to be honest about him,” Barna explains.
From there, Seán takes us into Old Manhattan on “Benjamin Whishaw Smiled,” both a guided tour of Bob Dylan’s folky Greenwich Village and an imagined love affair with the named actor (who, not coincidentally, interpreted Dylan as Arthur Rimbaud in Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There). He considers the role of the now-closed Gaslight Café, and the anonymous cocktail bar that now occupies the space–and thinks about how the protest singers’ bohemian lifestyle sixty years ago is all but impossible to live in the 2020s.
At the heart of the record, however, is the stark, quiet song, “The Lonely.” In Seán’s words: “A young queer person has to learn how to navigate a life of honesty. This nearly-universal struggle informs the ‘origin’ story of every queer person. In 2006, I was accepting my queerness while I was mourning the tragic, sudden death of my 13-year old brother. ‘The Lonely’ is about this time. Grief is lonely, but if you’re sitting alone at the bar of Macri Park, you are never alone. Don’t forget that.”
Tracklisting
1. Overture (Be A Man)
2. Disco Nap
3. Sleeping With Strangers
4. Benjamin Whishaw Smiled
5. Thinking Of You
6. The Lonely
7. Be A Man (ft. Adam Duritz)
8. Macri Park (ft. Mikaela Davis)
9. Maybe I Should Go Back To L.A. (ft. Danielle Ponder)
10. Erotic Deficiencies
11. Sparkle When You Speak (ft. Maria Taylor And Adam Duritz)Seán Barna Socials
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