devəlmāˈker’s Three-Song Release, “Antonym Pt. 1”

South Carolina based folk/emo artist devəlmāˈker put out 3 songs in April as part of “Antonym”; an Album released in three parts, and we knew that if we had the intention to review it, we wanted to start from the very beginning of the project. This is our review of “Antonym Pt. 1”:

Beginning with an honest, “here goes nothin”, the first song “Rinse and Repeat” reads almost more like a spoken word than a song — open lyrics like “Sore lungs / Remember to breathe / More months / To take me now into the deep” laid over an airy atmosphere and a looping guitar pattern create an solemn and looming energy. About halfway through the guitar picks up volume and speed for just a moment before once again dwindling away to allow space for more lyrics. The whole song feels like being carried away into the forest somewhere, as if you’re being dragged by the wind. The ability to do so much in terms of imagery with such a minimalistic song is really incredible. At very rare points does devəlmāˈker explain what you should be seeing in your head, and yet the picture is clear anyways.

The second song, “12am” had less airyness to it but the same ambience throughout. The lyrics feel like a diary entry; as the narrator recounts less savory parts of himself, and compares it to a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation. The title “12am” is a reference to the chorus, where devəlmāˈker sings “nothing good happens after midnight”. The upbeat nature of this song bears a stark contrast against these actual topics, as the listener wanted to bop their head along— almost forgetting the lyrics are dripping in so sad and empty feeling.

The final song of the release, “One Night (I Regret Answering the Phone)” tells a story of picking up the phone only to find out someone has passed. The song begins with “She tells me he's gone / I hang up and tell myself / (This must be wrong) / Then lost feeling…” it’s again very impressive the way devəlmāˈker can tell a story with minimal words. Often times DIY singers will try to give the listener as much information as possible to create a visual in your head as you listen, but he is able to do that without over explaining or crowding the song, which is very impressive. It’s also cool how full these songs feel; when they consist of not much more than an acoustic guitar, vocals, and some ambient sounds to take up the space. Though it is minimalistic and has plenty of space for air to flow through it, it never feels like its missing anything. These songs are complete as they are; with nothing more than a guitar and pieces of thoughts stitched together.

Though this is a short listen (coming in at just over 10 minutes), we’ve definitely gotten a taste for devəlmāˈker, and are excited to hear both part 2., and part 3. Of “Antonym”, and if you’re interested in dreary music to carry you through the day, we think that you’ll really enjoy this (and future releases) aswell!

LISTEN HERE