Music Review // Swansgate "Becoming Someone"

"Becoming Someone" releases everywhere on April 29th, 2022.  Please visit

https://www.swansgatemusic.com/ for more info!

When Swansgate first begins "Becoming Someone" there are these swirling synths which create keys that sing.   Through the melodies, these songs have a nice drive and with their percussion can create a nice rhythm as well.   The thing which strikes me most about these songs is how they can create one sound which you might feel familiar with but then combine it with another sound so that the overall sound of Swansgate becomes rather layered.

One thing I can't seem to shake when listening to "Becoming Someone" is how even though there are these elements such as you would hear from a jam band or just the fact that at one point they even bring out a flute, there is this underlying feeling throughout this album which makes me think of emo.   It reminds me of Panic At The Disco and Waking Ashland, just those specific early 2000 sounds of emo as well.

"Why Need Someone?" has that smooth jazz sax and when you reach "Lines to Us" you'll hear perhaps the most unique sound on this entire album.  What starts off like an old Phil Collins song with the synths and beats can quickly change to where it breaks down like hip hop.  This is a crossover I didn't ever imagine I would hear but Swansgate also just somehow makes it work, further proving they are the masters of combining sounds.

One of my favorite lines on this album is: "Life is a game/ we're all born to die".  It's a good reminder that no matter what you do in life we all end up at the same place (death) and so you should be a good person and all but at the same time does calling out of work when you're not really sick to have some time with friends or just to relax by yourself make you a bad person?  This album really should help you to hear music in a different way and focus on the bigger picture in life as well.