Premiere: Brett Altman celebrates spiritual ‘Beauty’

With the 1966 song “Beauty is Only Skin Deep,” The Temptations once sang, “My friends ask, what do I see in you / But it goes deeper than the eye can view.” Physical beauty, they surmise, fades as the seasons crash one into another, leaving behind only one’s character and moral standards. Singer-songwriter Brett Altman agrees, as he’s written his own version of such a sentiment. “Beauty,” premiering today on B-Sides & Badlands, celebrates the deeply-rooted spiritual connection with someone. “The way that you light up this room’s only part of your story,” he sings. “Your beauty is so much more.”

“When you meet someone who truly amazes you, their looks only play a small part in your attraction to them. The more you surround yourself with someone ‘beautiful,’ you start to notice elements of grace and magic in all the little things they do,” Altman remarks. “Their essence might dumbfound you: How can this person be so incredible? What is their secret? I’ve found myself in this situation several times before and wanted to write a song about falling for a person’s complete package (and not just what’s on the outside). We are all more than we appear to be.”

“You’re more than I could ever describe / More than any song this man could write,” he admits on the final chorus twirl, his voice of a reedy, windy variety, “and I’ve seen beauty before and you’re so much more.” Altman’s performance is unfussy, yet it gusts with a propulsive warble, keeping time with both the guitar and the pummeling percussion. As the song crescendos, particularly on the hook, it’s almost as a rallying cry, beckoning all who hear to perhaps reevaluate how they see the world.

In writing “Beauty,” the chorus sprang from Altman’s imagination first, finding himself greatly inspired by the E major chord progression, “particularly for how majestic the open strings sounded when ringing out,” he says. “The melody and lyrics flowed quickly thereafter.” The song, however, didn’t quite flourish until he brought the idea to co-writer Tyler Bank during a 2019 summer trip to Nashville. The duo “spent the next year slowly tweaking lyrics,” he recalls, “until finally finishing the song in 2020 over FaceTime.”

Later, Altman linked up with producer Maxwell Henry and recorded the song “from my parent’s basement and his Brooklyn apartment,” he says. “While working remotely created challenges, it also opened doors for us creatively. We were able to bring in a bassist friend from Chicago to virtually record parts, and her playing really helped add a fresh sound to the band.”

“Beauty” is a primer to Altman’s first record, Not Quite Love, due out in 2022. Over the coming months, the singer-songwriter eyes a series of single releases to prepare for the drop.

Listen to “Beauty” (out tomorrow) below.

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