fats’e youngburial brings yet another innovative project with his latest funeral march EP, as his production and vocals are ever so coherently glued together. The EP runs around the 15-minute mark and consists of 5 tracks which flawlessly flow in and out of each other, both conceptually and sonically. The project embodies various sounds from math rock and midwest emo guitar riffs, all the way to distorted 808s and exhilarating percussion, while the lyrics incorporate dark and introspective themes such as existential dread, self-doubt, apathy and heartbreak.
Ironically, opening track “pins & needles” is the most upbeat and cheerful compared to the rest, despite the fact that fats’e contemplates about death and the burdens of life in his lyrics. Nevertheless, the song is extremely catchy with its frisky guitar riffs and playful percussion and it indeed feels as if fats’e is the composer of his own funeral march. He also shows a lot of vocal diversity, shifting flows and tempos a number of times throughout these 3 and a half minutes, therefore setting the standard quite high for the rest of the EP.
The following tune “pulled up so late i missed the whole party” definitely meets that standard in a refreshing way. It’s almost as if fats’e made a complete 180 turn with this track, since the production here can be viewed as an antithesis to the previous song. We no longer notice a cheerful catchy melody, but we are immediately placed into this rather nostalgic and melancholic setting. The song builds up slowly and it reaches its culmination with the introduction of some 808s but it quickly dims down into a peaceful bridge, which soon transforms into the final version of the instrumental.
Things get even darker and somewhat sinister with the next song “stab my own back” not only due to the distorted and heavy production, but also the hopelessness portrayed with the lyrics. It is perhaps the most emotionally potent track on the project, where fats’e displays some of his personal struggles:
all this self-doubt
consuming me
stabbed my own back
nothing good lasts
The calm after the storm is excellently represented with the next piece named “hiding out in plain view.” fats’e brings back some of the more buoyant energy from the beginning with the help of some solid percussion and in-your-face guitar chords. The track is short and sweet while dealing with the very same sorrowful concepts that are seen throughout the entire EP. However, fats’e does get more abstract and ambiguous with his lyrics despite how self-evident some of the lines are which is perhaps his intention considering the song title.
The closing track is the familiar single “room to breathe” which is thematically the most straightforward and coherent one as it directly addresses heartbreak. fats’e shows us yet again his ability to turn a painful experience into a beautiful and unique piece of art. His voice fading out with the lines “I’m better off alone / please don’t hit my phone” is indeed the best way to end the song and the whole EP.
Overall, funeral march is just one of many reasons that you should be paying attention to fats’e. His contribution to the underground scene is invaluable and he continually pushes the boundaries of his creativity. Listen to the project down below: