News broke over the weekend of the death of Jarrod Paul Bramson, songwriter and vocalist for Port Townsend, Wash. band Solvents. Bramson was found unconscious out in his car in the Jefferson Health Care Center parking lot and later pronounced dead from an apparent drug overdose. He was 43.
Bramson formed Solvents in 2000, primarily as a means to learn how to record music and playing all the instruments himself. In 2002, he met violinist Emily Madden and the two began jamming together. Madden introduced Bramson to fiddle music and even got him to join her father’s Irish band. Conversely, Bramson introduced Madden to punk and indie rock.
Madden would officially join the project with 2005’s Sundays In Spring. Five years later in 2010, Bramson proposed to Madden on a Solvents tour and they would be married that summer. Both natives to Port Townsend, Solvents became fixtures of their city’s local scene.
Solvents remained somewhat active until Bramson’s death. Their last full-length release was 2015’s Modern Dystopia and last year saw the release of two singles on the group’s Bandcamp: “Leave The Devil at the Bar” and “Before The Town Gets Sold.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help raise memorial funds, all proceeds going to Madden.
Join us in remembering Bramson’s life and legacy through his music below.
