[REVIEW] slowthai - UGLY
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/462089
Extremely emotional. The feelings of being lost, hurt, depressed... slowthai screams his misery at the top of his lungs. He opens up about his struggles with addiction and relationships, and that makes this album feel really personal.
There's a nice variety of sound on this project; every song feels decently distinct, even if they have a lot of thematic overlap. There's a lot of guitars and heavy bass, very punk, but also a strong beat and artificial sounds. There's some hip-hop slices too. I love it!
The sounds on this album really jump out at you though, there's no two ways about it. Really, what jumps out the most is slowthai's vocal performance. He puts his all into nearly every word, you can really feel his emotion, his desperation, his despair. He's lost, and he'll make sure you know it, and that you won't do a thing to help.
This album feels like a trip down a tortured mind.
Still, the lyrics make the album, no question. The instrumentals are great, the vocals are strong, but the lyrics... He really has a way of keeping your attention, of pulling you in with melodies and punching you square in the jaw with total hopelessness and drug-fuelled spurts of vague happiness. The emotion is almost overwhelming at times.
I'd heard of him before, and I've even listened to one of his songs before, which I liked quite a bit. This is the first full-length project of his I've listened to though, and I'm looking forward to finding more of his stuff. This was great.