LionLimb

LionLimb is an indie rock project from Nashville, United States, active since 2010. It is led by Stewart Bronaugh and includes Joshua Jaeger as a member and close collaborator.

Background

Bronaugh grows up in Nashville, where he starts playing piano and guitar and experiments with a Roland digital multitrack recorder as a school student. The LionLimb project takes shape in college, when he meets Jaeger. Bronaugh later becomes based in New York, while the project remains rooted in the partnership between the two musicians.

Style and approach

The project combines indie rock, folk, alternative and indie pop elements with a production style that Bronaugh shapes himself. He composes, produces and mixes most of the music largely on his own, and describes an interest in unusual choices and accidental sounds. His work is informed by a preference for experimentation and by “the mistakes” that occur during recording.

LionLimb’s music draws on a wide range of influences, including 1970s Italian film soundtracks, 1960s girl group music, funk and soul ballads, and older obscure recordings. The results use sitar-like guitar, funk-influenced basslines, string arrangements and distorted guitar, with an atmospheric quality that is often described in cinematic terms.

Albums and collaborations

The group releases its debut album Shoo in 2016, followed by Tape Recorder in 2018. Limbo appears on Bayonet Records and is built around songs Bronaugh writes with classic songwriting in mind, shaping personal experiences of grief and addiction into love songs.

Limbo is an album of duets and features Angel Olsen, Ewa Synowiec, Justine Orrall, Bri Abram, Zoey Huynh and Taylor Belle as guest vocalists. Bronaugh treats vocals as another instrument, and the album also includes additional recording from Robin Eaton. The single “Dream of You” features Angel Olsen.

Themes

Bronaugh writes much of the material for Limbo while staying in his Brooklyn apartment during the pandemic, and the songs reflect both introspection and escapism. Natural imagery such as the sun, moonlight, hurricanes and deep water runs through the lyrics, alongside themes of romance, longing, loss and being carried by forces beyond the self.