Now Brakence, as far as I'm concerned is a relatively new artist. I found some of his tracks in a Spotify Recommended playlist a while ago, namely Argyle, Fuckboy and Rosier. His hyper pop style and manic composition was something that really intrigued me when I first heard the tracks, and his beautifully cutting vibrato and vocal techniques that really set himself out from any other artists making similar music. Now he's come out with his brand new record 'Hypochondriac', where he doubles down on all the things that make him a brilliant artist, both doing the things he's good at whilst exploring new areas, proving that at just 21 years old, Brakence still has a lot to give, and a lot of philosophical questions to ask. Here's my track by track breakdown and review of this stunning new record.
(Hypochondriac - Brakence Album Art 2022)
Bugging!
As far as intro tracks go, Bugging is a brilliant way to introduce the themes of this record, as well as flex Brakence's guns as far as clean production and instrumentation. With flawless beat breaks, hard slamming bass and his signature vibrato, Bugging! shows that since his first record, all his sound has done is evolve and grow in a brilliant way. Dealing with the usual themes of mental health, money, and confusion within the music industry and his own personal spheres, Bugging! begins to tell the story of this record across it's three minute runtime, and cements itself as the perfect opener, that introduces the seeming pride before the meteoric fall of the albums narrative.
Caffeine
Bugging! runs straight into this hard hitting and sudden track. Caffeine seems like a coffee fuelled session in dissecting the industry, his role in music making, and how he handles his fame onto of his own life. Where this track flourishes is in its breakdowns from the usual blasting beats of the main chorus. Without the torrent of the usual instrumentation, the vocals hit more personally, giving a slight reprise before jolting into more chaos. The way these tracks grow so naturally is something that really astounds me, how this song grows and changes is truly something to marvel at.
Venus Fly Trap
More stripped back than the previous song, Venus Fly Trap depicts what sound's like a tricky relationship, but loving the toxicity within it, potentially touching on the pain of being coerced into sex. With more of a funky, less synthesized beat based around the signature picked style riff, this song sounds like classic Brakence. Again, this track grows and then decays at the final chorus, making the pain in the vocals more evident. At the beginning of this track you don't know whether Brakence is in love with the toxicity, or flourishing within it, but the final chorus, set alongside yet more brilliant production, leaves you wondering how hard this experience hurt, and what scars it left. There's clearly a larger narrative to this track, and as it slides into the beautiful piano led section, ushered in by this record's signature vocals, you slowly begin to realise there's a lot more to this album than meets the eye.
Teeth
Another great Hip-Hop style beat ushers in Teeth, which again touches on the duality of being in the music industry, and how to mitigate your ego when creating art. Brakence describes his music as 'fear based art', which gives the rest of this album an odd tinge of both freedom but also brutality. This song is full of commentary on fake friends and suffering due to his fame. As introspective go, this one feels strange, sound tracked to another brilliant backdrop, the dichotomy between the theme and the soundscape is another piece of evidence that Brakence is a genius at his craft. Yet another breakdown ends this track, adding the Caffeine - esque beat breaks before turning into a manic array of melding crackles and groans that fade out as the next track begins.
Intellectual Greed
Another pretty guitar riff underpins this track, as well as more natural sounding drum rhythm. I like how this feels like a bit more of a palette cleanser from the Hyperpop madness of the past few tracks. Brakence's lyrics have a brilliant way of saying the same thing in different ways, commenting on his fame being a 'poisoned dipped arrow', he's gained everything he could ever want, but it comes with a price. There's also a slight comment on social media in this track, before it melds back into an R&B type breakdown. The instrumentation in the latter end of this track is really good, and helps create some form of grandeur to this self deprecating track.
5g
As far as songs go, this one is Hyperpop perfection. Not only is it based strangely on a drill beat, it feels like one of the most perfect pop adjacent tracks of the last few years. Brakence plays with voice modulation here brilliantly, using his higher range to almost create two bickering characters within this track. It feels like both an admission of not doing so well, but also pushing people away and simply giving in to the social media obsessed masses. 5g feels like a brilliant attack on our society, how we rely on our technology just to feel something, when in actuality it simply numbs us more. This track also grows brilliantly, once again showing some more amazing production and beat building, culminating in one of the highlights on this record. If you want the essence of Brakence's music, 5g is exactly that.
Preparation Exercise No.7
Another great beat here, based around some more tropical percussion, mixed with the usual modulation and synthesized vocals. It's more of a mellow slow jam in comparison to the rest of the record, and allows itself to breathe in it's own space, before ripping the carpet out from under itself. It becomes yet another slamming mess of sounds clashing together, a discordant mess, before moving to more stripped back vocals. Anyone who say's these songs aren't oozing with emotion is clearly lying, as this song tracks a journey that as a listener you can only sit back and listen to with wide eyes. There's panic, pain and everything in between, all underpinned by some stunning beats.
CBD
CBD frames a fight between two people as similar to giving up drugs. Not only does it merge perfectly from another brilliant synth beat to another natural drum beat, but it has your head bopping, even during the pitiful admittance that 'no one cares about me, except me'. Maybe this commentary is meant to be dichotomous, with Brakence saying that CBD itself has helped ease his chronic pain, but also knowing that something else is killing him in the background. Another slow burner, but nonetheless a brilliant track, with more flawless vocals and clean evolution. So far, there have been no misses on this record, and i feel like today, that's very hard to find.
Stung
I love Stung. It feels like a declaration of independence. The beat is once again impeccable, with more lyrical perfection from Brakence. The beat includes some brilliant trailing piano parts and guitar that helps meld it all together. The narrative seemingly is all about relapse, 'seesawing' back to his ex, thinking he's changed when actually not a lot has. So what does he do? He takes a potion, LSD, which he describes as his escape to reality. This song is a brilliant way to take back addiction, Brakence understands that he's sick, but he needs the vice, and knows that it's going to leave him stung. The lyricism here, and the semantics of honey and bees creates a bittersweet narrative, he knows the honey is close, and the reward, but he keeps getting stung by bad decisions. It's more evidence not to sleep on this artist! Stung is very near perfection.
Argyle
This track is rough, and debates Brakence's own feelings of depression, and his wish to end his life when things get tough. Underpinned by yet another brilliant beat, created around more wailing guitar chords and deep basslines, the song delicately portrays his inner turmoil. Argyle itself seems to be a reference to not giving in to the materialism of the music industry, and coming to terms with his own stake in the new torrent of internet superficiality. I can't sing the praises of the instrumentation and composition of these tracks more, they really are a pleasure to listen to. Each song feels individual, Argyle is no exception, full of record scratching and discordance, this song's rough subject shouldn't scare you away, it really is a marvel of a song, even if Brakence deep down just wants to be dead.
Deepfake
As far as shots at the internet go, Deepfake is the most straightforward one, offering the question, when he live our lives chronically online, am I really real? Am I just a fake in comparison to how i present on social media? A more sombre beat is used in this track as the harsh lyrics echo through, depicting what seems to be a breakup that Brakence simply can't get over, before realising he himself is a fake. The anger and confusion boils up to a brilliant midpoint, slamming into another brilliant driving beat. He airs out his anger, his need to hide his emotions, hold up a front to the fact he feels he has no escape from his life. The panic is evident through this song, continually stripping itself back, and then building back up when it needs. This is truly Brakence's main strength that is shown in spades in Deepfake. It's a study in instability, and shows all the peaks and troughs of trying to create art that's true to you, when in reality what that would be isn't something you wish to show.
Introvert
This song is more of an acoustic ballad, and proves that Brakence's versatility isn't just confined to his manic hyper pop stylings. It feels like a bit more of a throwaway track, but actually stands up pretty well. It helps tie itself to the main themes of being a hypochondriac, depicting his struggles with his mental health once again, and how he feels like he's being ignored and treated like a joke by those around me. Love, seemingly, in this song, is the only cure for Brakence, but it's something he'll never be able to get. The song ends with another slew of online clips merging into a hellish soundscape, maybe once again commenting on how the internet and his online persona is a fallback, or a disease getting in the way of his art. The final part of this song is really interesting too, go and give it a listen, and make your own interpretation, in my head, it connotes that Brakence, by playing by his own rules, is a selfish artist in the grand scheme of the industry, but it really could mean a number of things.
Hypochondriac
The final song feels, in it's opening as yet another introspective into a failed relationship. The subtle piano is another nice break, and really brings in a sense of finality to this record. We really get to focus on Brakence's voice here, the way he crushes the wispy high notes, as well as some very impressive emphasis. It returns to the motif line of Hypochondriac that's been running through this entire album, creating this crushingly beautiful cycle in this final song. The final lines really end this record on an unresolved note, that although he keeps on trying to make things right, he seemingly always fucks things up, and the final line is interrupted by the sound of a phone being unlocked, before it's then hastily switched off, bringing both the song, and this record, to a bitter end.
(Brakence - Argyle Single Art 2022)
Overview: What can I say? This record, front to back is a masterpiece in production, instrumentation and creation that cannot be ignored. Not only is it musically dynamic and offers a wide range of styles and techniques, but it's actual performance, the vocals and the layering all add up to create a record that is one of the best pop adjacent works that has been released in the past years. Brakence truly deserves to be commended for this record, not shying away from brutal topics and really emoting through his art and passion, laying himself bear for all to see. If you haven't already, please, I implore you to go and listen to this album. You won't be the same after - for better, I promise.
Rating: 9.5/10
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