The Broadest Blue: “On summer break after my freshman year, I fell in love with The Beach Boys, and that was like opening Pandora's box for me”
The Broadest Blue is the musical project of Brooklyn-based indie artist Kurt Juergens. Last month, he delivered a tune I called a bold exploration of sound. I also called In Blossoming Flows one of the best tracks I've ever heard - and I was not exaggerating!
I was fascinated to learn more about Kurt and dive into his musical history, so I was thrilled when he said yes to an interview!
Taking us through how much his latest single means to him, his adoration for Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys, and the story behind his moniker, please give a warm welcome to the hugely talented Kurt Juergens of The Broadest Blue!
Hi Kurt, thanks so much for taking the time to chat! It's truly appreciated! Now...before we get into the nitty gritty, can you tell us what first drew you to music and how you discovered your passion for it?
Likewise, thanks a lot for having me! I truly caught the music bug while I was already in college for Bible & ministry. On summer break after my freshman year, I fell in love with The Beach Boys, and that was like opening Pandora's box for me. For a year all I listened to was the Sounds of Summer compilation and Brian Wilson Presents Smile. The experience was so rich for me, and it changed the whole way I looked at music, which then changed my life.
Before that, I'd had some guitar lessons as a teenager, but the idea of creating music wasn't a driving force in my life. I say The Beach Boys thing was Pandora's box for me because I then branched out my listening - I got into jazz, I got into classical music - all because Brian Wilson flipped the switch.
Your most recent release, In Blossoming Flows, was a tune I proudly labelled as "one of the most stunning pieces of music I've ever heard". What does the song mean to you and what would you like our readers to know about it?
That meant a lot, by the way. I don't have the wealth and industry connections enjoyed by the vast majority of those who "make it," and it feels like the system is set up to keep the rest of us out.
But to answer the question: In Blossoming Flows is the song/piece/track I always wanted to make. I realized early on in my music journey that certain changes in the harmony of a piece or a song - from Rachmaninoff's Prelude in E-flat to the extended ending of Heroes and Villains (from Brian Wilson Presents Smile) had a deep and profound effect on me. Really indescribable.
In writing In Blossoming Flows, those "harmonic orgasms" (as I think of them) came to me as very pleasant surprises - and though I wrote it at the piano, everything you hear on the track is exactly how I heard it in my head while writing. The female semi-a-cappella moment, the rumbling timpani, my own vocal delivery. It's everything that feels good to my brain, in 2 minutes and 58 seconds.
It depicts a woman "defrosting" in an evocative mountain landscape that is doing the same - inspired by Glacier National Park (my favorite place on earth) and Weir Creek Hot Springs. You could say she is becoming one with nature. I want those landscapes, I want that woman, and I want those feelings of transcendence and peace - and groundedness. And my hope is that the listener is transported to that same place.
Now...I know this is a toughie, and possibly like asking you to pick a favourite child, but which tune of yours means the most to you so far, and why?
Thankfully, I do have an answer, and it legitimately is the song you’ve featured (but it is tied with I Ate a Bouquet of Flowers.)
In Blossoming Flows is every euphoric musical element that's enamored me for the past 20+ years, distilled into three sublime minutes. Harmony, melody, lyrics, production...when you hear the track, you are hearing everything I love in music. It has no interest in being a pop song, and it goes further than simply "having" diversions - it IS a diversion.
I Ate a Bouquet of Flowers is a song where the fullness of heart and of craft met. It had a mind of its own, and the lyrics came to me unexpectedly while I was trying to write a different song. Bouquet (for short) is a pure love, untainted by the suffocating roughness surrounding it.
Who are some of your biggest musical influences? And who would I see under “Recently Played” on your streaming service of choice?
For my biggest influences, I’d say Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys, Sufjan Stevens, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and Leonard Cohen.
Lately, I listen a lot to a playlist I made - all of the above are on it - called Your Lion, which is the title of a mixed-genre romantic epic I’m writing (the playlist is meant to help clarify my mental vision of what I’m going for).
Other than that, full albums of The Beach Boys are always in rotation, and actually, I listen to a lot of TV Girl and, lately, Clairo (especially Sexy to Someone). Oh, and I just found this song called The Garden of Earthly Delights by Josephine Foster.
Photo Credit: Serena Bell
When you’re not creating music, what keeps you busy and happy? Walk us through a non-music day in the life of Kurt Juergens.
Animals and friends keep me happy, and work (as a caretaker) keeps me busy. I start my day with Bible and prayer time, with breakfast set out - usually dark chocolate and either a smoothie or a banana. Most of my work shifts are afternoon-to-evening, so before work, I might go to the gym, or handle some administrative stuff related to my music, or practice one of my instruments.
After work, the first thing I do most evenings is crash for a bit. But depending on the night, I go to a church small group, or I teach a piano lesson, or I watch TV with my roommate. Oh, I’m also a retro gamer - I play a Model 1 SEGA Genesis through a CRT (tube) TV! I'm preparing to dive into Sword of Vermilion for the first time.
If you were allowed to collaborate with any musician or band, who would you choose and why?
No surprise here, it would be Brian Wilson - and I would plead with him to write something with more jazz-based harmony, like a lot of what’s on Pet Sounds. And I would step aside to let him handle the music, and be his lyricist - the working arrangement behind his best material. He started it all for me.
I’m always intrigued by the story regarding artists’ or bands’ names…How exactly did The Broadest Blue come about?
It’s several things rolled into one! Sufjan has a song called The Tallest Man, The Broadest Shoulders - so that’s where “broadest” comes from. Adding “blue” to it kind of implies the ocean (indirect homage to The Beach Boys) or the sky (I am really drawn to big skies and even moved to Montana for a bit). I also have blue eyes.
The Broadest Blue is mentally crunchy to me, like, “...the broadest blue *what* exactly?” And that fits too, because I think my driving desire was always to pair the earthy with the ethereal.
Thanks again for taking the time Kurt, it's been a pleasure getting to know you a bit better. Before we say farewell, what comes next for you musically and, I guess in a broader sense, what do you hope is in store for your musical future?
The questions have been great, so again, thank you! My hope is to continue growing as a human, with the creative process of my music serving as both a catalyst for that and a record of it. And I hope that it becomes a career so I can devote more time to it!
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