Posted: by The Alt Editing Staff
Even after Crack Cloud’s dazzling fourth album, Red Mile, Bryce Cloghesy still has a few more tricks up his sleeve. On Scarred for Life, he departs from Crack Cloud and NOV3L’s restless and therapeutic strains of post-punk in favor of a genre-bending cocktail of bass-heavy R&B, lustrous jazz, and atmospheric dub under his alias Military Genius. He sings with a haunting sense of foreboding; what does he know that we don’t?
Lightning strikes of bass pulse through the opening track, “Walk the Earth.” Introspective lyrics that read more like poems take center stage. Despite existing within a traditional rock framework, his solemn croon takes on different forms throughout the record; “Darkest Hour,” the lead single, conjures a bar nearing close, and Cloughesy dials his voice down to a whisper but still allows speckles of optimism to peek through.
The album’s title and tracks are all a testament to a near-death experience in 2012 and his recently becoming a father. In a press release, he explained, “I found excitement in creating something naturalistic and hand-made, flawed by its own humanity. It’s all about embracing the journey, stepping beyond the point of no return, and facing the future.” He weaves together raw industrial sounds with musings about loneliness and paranoia.
Rather than sonically reinventing the wheel, he pulls bits and pieces from otherwise disconnected genres in a way that flexes his muscles and allows the listener to fully immerse themselves in each track. Groovy standout track “Forlorn Dub” deploys sunny fingerpicked guitar, partially inspired by Cloghesy’s move from Canada to Joshua Tree.
Song titles – “forlorn,” “solitary,” “prison” – reinforce the idea of processing trauma. Cloughsey elaborates, “It took some time to realize that I had been working tirelessly for years, white-knuckling life without any tools to process stress or trauma. So there are many lyrics about that mental health journey, learning to cope and accept.” That’s just what he does on Scarred for Life.
Disappointing / Average / Good / Great / Phenomenal
Scarred for Life is out now on Unheard Of Hope. Follow Military Genius on Instagram.
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Giliann Karon | @lethalrejection
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