Biography

Vitamin-D offers fetching soundscapes and musical nuances based around vibraphonettes, tremolo guitars, and looping trumpets. Dennis Cronin, the trumpet-wielding composer at the center of Brooklyn’s Vitamin-D, prefers musical nuances to oversized statements. Among others, Cronin and his trumpet have collaborated with alternative darlings Lambchop and Vic Chesnutt and performed with Yo La Tengo and Camera Obscura.

Frenzy isn't everything it's cracked up to be. Thoughtfulness and grace still have a place in the world, and guess what? - they can convey as much excitement as clamor can. Vitamin-D has been operating under this premise for several years now, and with their second CD Bridge, they've become more eloquent at it than ever.

Dennis Cronin, the trumpet-wielding composer at the center of Brooklyn’s Vitamin-D, prefers musical nuances to oversized statements. The fetching soundscapes on his new CD Bridge bring classical and jazz elements to an 11-track program of meticulously designed pop tunes.

Cronin is an advocate of subtlety. “As a kid, I could never play the high notes,” he says, “and I never wanted to play super fast.” Cronin imagined there must be another way to get attention. “If you don’t have someone screaming at you, there are lots of other sounds that will be noticed.”
Time Out New York called Vitamin-D’s first record, Build Another, “lush and dreamy.” Bridge stays true to that course. “The Summer Crossing” is rich with a string section, vibraphonette, and looped guitar sounds. “Solid Day” is propulsive but reflective – the best of both worlds. “Hopscotch” is wispy and bittersweet. And “Trumpet Moment 2” is a shimmering instrumental world unto itself.

A glance around Cronin’s apartment will help explain the breadth of his imagination. Instruments are everywhere. Cello, cornet, a few trumpets, snare drum, singing bowl, accordion, funeral organ, vibraphonette, the works. “It’s all about having the right sound available at a moment's notice.”

This theory kicks off the disc. The first sound on the record is that of a typewriter, and from triangles to tambourines to string sections, Cronin uses numerous options to generate something quite singular. Bridge is a record that will stick in your mind for a long time.

Cronin and his trumpet have collaborated with alternative darlings Lambchop and Vic Chesnutt and performed with Yo La Tengo and Camera Obscura. Since arriving in New York several years ago, Cronin has fallen into the cauldron of creativity that is the modern Brooklyn scene. Konrad Meissner (The Silos, Matt Nathanson), Adam D. Gold (Gutbucket), Chris Moore (Negative Approach), Greta Gertler and Pete Galub helped shape Bridge’s personality.