![]() Melody, it turned out, had similarly been targeted. In the course of a particularly grueling world tour, in 2007, the two eldest sisters, ever-more distraught, confided in each other of their father’s sexual assault and rape. ![]() Raised and homeschooled by an ambitious father and mother, Keith and Lisa Brown, the siblings – in birth order, Desirae, Deondra, Gregory, Melody and Ryan – grew up with the outward illusion of happiness but the inward truth of parental control and abuse. For those viewers (like me) not in the loop, we sense a simmering tension without fully understanding its roots, though there are hints that, with hindsight, were hard to miss. Indeed, Niles ( Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037) brings us right into the middle of a fraught drama of familial ties frayed to the breaking point, introducing his subjects as they gather to record a new album, which they hope will offer, to themselves, solace and healing. Thanks to director Ben Niles’ comprehensive, engaging documentary portrait of the siblings, entitled The 5 Browns: Digging Through the Darkness, I feel like I know them well, informed by the kind of intimacy that close-up movie profiles can offer. Since that ignorance has now been remedied, in a way both inspiring and haunting, allow me to share their story with you. Though they have been performing together publicly as a family – on five pianos, one apiece – for close to two decades, The 5 Browns had heretofore remained unknown to me. Lead Critic Chris Reed was there so stay tuned for his review and interviews…) ( The 9th annual DOC NYCran November 8-15 in New York City.
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