Ecstasy can be described in never-ending ways, all depending on who you are asking. For me, I’ve always believed in a term called ear ecstasy and if you’d ask for the definition I’d say the tingling sensation one gets in the ear while listening to something that is music to not only the ear, but the mind and soul.

This is the feeling one discovers when listening to Brand New, The Director’s Cut by Brail, aka Phillip Watson. Though this CD is a journey of himself and the world he has been in for the past few years, it is unique in multiple ways. To begin with, the songs of the disc were actually written years before the release and even before the events in which they coincided with even occurred.

” Brand New is a journey; it was my journey to becoming a brand new person.” said Phillip Watson, junior music performance major, “I’ve rewritten it so many times; notebooks have gotten lost, notebooks have been thrown away, songs have been redone.”

This dedication shines through in each track on Brand New.

The CD starts off with a track titled Ponder which hits home with anybody who has ever been in indecision and tried to find the meaning of life. After Ponder there is a section entitled The Hook. This section outlines the beginnings of making life as a musician appealing to his audience and individual in general. Next comes the inevitable Distraction, over viewing the struggles of the artist coming to be with letting the outside world and temporary love distract the growth within. Brail climbs out of The Distraction with The Dilema, which highlights the discovery of rising to the top and  discovering the true meaning of who one wants to be as a person and artist

“I was writing so much I forgot to live the life I was writing about.” said Brail in Track 10:Get It.

Following this is the Low Point and then The Recovery, beginning to be the artist Brail wanted to be and how he blooms through it all.

.”I really became much closer to God and grew exponentially” said Watson, “I never wanted to be a gospel rapper, but all of my music had gospel undertones and reflected my walk with God; it doesn’t have to be gospel music, it’s just my music.

After the irony of the songs being written before the life events that they belong to, comes the pure sound this disc brings to the ear and the feeling in the heart. Like many artists such as Usher or Kanye West, Brail seems to know how to intrigue the ear with true life. Only, the work done on this CD can not fully be compared to either of these artists or others. In fact, it’s a sound that allows it’s unique touches to bounce off ears with joy. This goes along with the heart-warming feeling you get when you takes in the meaning of the songs well. The struggle and pleasure of becoming who you are is an evident display in Brand New and plays true to the emotions until the very end.

It is no surprise that there were 15 pre-orders on this CD in April and almost 100 copies sold since June. Lucky for you, Brail plans to re-up copies and hit campus with them soon. When he does they will be sold for only 10 dollars.