awakebutstillinbed

What People Call Low Self-Esteem Is Really Just Seeing Yourself The Way Other People See You

Written by: PP on 25/11/2018 21:36:44

Sometimes, all it takes is a quirky band name or an even quirkier album title to lure in a new listener. The reason I picked up awakebutstillinbed's debut album "What People Call Low Self-Esteem Is Really Just Seeing Yourself The Way That Other People See You" is precisely because of its long, emotionally-charged title. It takes guts to write an album like that about yourself, yet that's exactly what Shannon Taylor has done here, resulting in one of the most convincing lo-fi emo albums I've come across recently. Dubbed as 'extremo' due to its intensely emotional content, all it takes is the five-minute album opener - simply called "Opener" - to understand why.

Remember how you first discovered emo through the likes of Hawthorne Heights and started digging deeper? Beyond the polish of a large indie label and straight down the rabbit hole of bedroom recordings often characterized as lo-fi emo? This is where we find ourselves as the unpolished, purposefully rough soundscape unravels itself during that song. What starts as fragile, slightly whiny singing in a minimalistic soundscape gets louder and louder until about half-way through the song breaks into chaotic screaming and ravaging instrumentals that crash together in one of the most riveting moments of explosive passion you'll hear this year. It took me quite a few listens to even recognize it as a female singer, that's how raw and noisy her off-tune scream is here. Likewise, "Stumble" is a monstrous exercise of emo/screamo in its rawest, most unpolished form. It's totally off-tune but that's on purpose: the chaotic screaming adds a layer of passion that's simply unmatched by other bands who iron such emotion away with too much polish.

Add in an overwhelming feel of sad melancholia, and you've got a formula for feels that most of her peers just can't match. But really, it's Shannons unrestrained screams that make most of the impression: after listening to a track like "Life" it's hard to believe she has any vocal cords left after the recording session. Others have therefore drawn connections to bands like The Hotelier (on their debut) or At The Drive-In, and they're not wrong. This is as raw and passionate as emo gets, but whether you'll like it will come down to how much you appreciate the purposeful ignoring of the right tune and production values.

7

Download: Opener, Life, Stumble
For the fans of: The Hotelier, Rainer Maria, At The Drive-In,
Listen: Facebook

Release date 03.01.2018
Tiny Engines

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