Congrats - 'Russian Roulette' - Song Review
REVIEW BY: JADE GUIDA
Congrats dropped a new banger. I know what you are thinking, well why is this a week late. Well this is a week late because I felt that no matter how many re-writes and how many listens, there is no real way to do justice to Congrats and this new track.
Slowly Slowly frontman Ben Stewart first brought us a taste of his solo project last year with the dreamy ‘Cut Down the Middle’ and followed it up with the absolute banger that was ‘Antidote’.
Last week Stewart added the hypnotic ‘Russian Roulette’ to his ever-growing list of highly addictive and soul igniting body of work.
Stewart has an incredibly rare quality in his ability to shatter the lines drawn around genre. With a versatility unparalleled in the music scene at present, Stewart has an almost magic touch when it comes to music releases.
When musicians from our favourite bands branch out in to Solo Projects it is easy to compare the quality of the music or the essence of the sound. There are scarce musicians who have the ability to have such a strong sound in a band and bring an equally powerful yet unique sound to their solo project but Stewart undeniably has this mastered. It is such a disorientating quality when you listen to Congrats if you are already a Slowly Slowly fan. Such a familiar voice but an entirely essence.
Ben Stewart fronting Slowly Slowly is powerful, confident and fun. He has an electricity. Fronting Congrats Stewart is deeply introspective, compelling and bewitching. This new track Russian Roulette ties these two personas together in an effortless package. The song has the charismatic vocals of Stewart intertwined with trap beats. The piece is masterfully produced fans have come to expect from Stewart. The accompanying video has a dark and almost dangerous feel. It creates the same hair on end feeling you get when you walk through a dark street alone at 2am. Lyrically the song tackles some big themes. That incommunicable feeling of internal conflict when our conscious mind pulls us back from the brink of destruction. This track pushes you outside of your comfort zone, it makes me feel uncomfortable, if I could escape my own skin and own introspection I would and what a powerful sound to create such a feeling. What an incredibly well written and produced piece of music.
