Album Review: Dead Nature - 'Watch Me Break Apart'
From Spring King to a range of upcoming artists like Devon and The Big Moon, Tarek Musa’s music credits show no limits to his extraordinary talents. His new release under his most recent solo project Dead Nature, entitled Watch Me Break Apart, continues to demonstrate the pure excellence of his technical abilities.
It’s perhaps these elements of production that make the album shine the most. It has the inexplicable ‘complete’ feel that all masterfully mixed albums seem to have, with cleverly combined sounds and the perfect balance between every element. Every track is so perfectly refined and extremely high in quality. Naturally, it’s not impossible to detect the lingering identity of Spring King, but this familiarity is somewhat comforting to hear.
Lyrically, Watch Me Break Apart is as relevant and relatable as things could be, Ranging from the climate crisis and political struggles to the exhausting nature of social media, universally experienced anxieties are acknowledged in probably the best way possible: through a high energy and danceable sound that almost comically juxtaposes the heavy reality of the words.
As a result every track has anthem qualities, as though they were all made for performing in large venues - the whole thing is abundant in epic drum beats and catchy guitar riffs, to an almost overwhelming extent. There’s a very consistent sound that comes from this (perhaps a little bit too consistent at points), but each song just about holds up by itself with its own special touches: ‘Landlands’ channels a punkish feel with its distortions, whilst Jess Allanic’s backing vocals in ‘Hurricane’ and the funky drums of ‘Rivers’ add an extra layer of memorability. These unique additions bring a great desire to listen to the entire album on repeat for as long as possible.
So I suppose it goes without saying that Watch Me Break Apart is the perfect follow-up for Tarek Musa. Between the honest lyrics and the captivatingly optimistic instrumentals, you’ll be falling in love from the first track alone.
Words by Caitlin Mincher