Post Description

"It's an excavation of my past. I'm far enough away from the reality of these stories now to write with perspective. It's like putting them behind museum glass. They're no longer mine anymore."

Dexter Tortoriello, otherwise known as Dawn Golden or part of the duo Houses, debuts his first full-length album as Dawn Golden, Still Life under Mad Decent Records. Filled with reminiscence of love, addiction, and death, Still Life captures you into these moments and feelings and holds you there, taking you through a journey similar to the one Tortoriello described about writing this record. Filled with calm, candor vocals and shrewd accents and decrescendos in an electronic, dream pop instrumental, Still Life is like two ends of a battery connecting and creating a current that finely tunes into your emotions.

There's electricity about this album that isn't like a spark or an explosion, but a steady stream that pulls you in to the emotions Dawn Golden portrays and wraps you in them. The lyrics emanate emotional honesty that's not too personal to be unable to relate to and personal enough to take your past or current situations and relive those feelings. In "All I Want" Tortoriello's voice captivates you into your memories of longing while the hypnotic background inflects and accents the relatable lyrics. While the lyrics in Still Life are superb, the instrumentals pull you deeper into each song and cloak you with the darker shades of love. From drumming that sounds like a fast heartbeat to what emulates a clock ticking, "Swing" describes the subtle power the instrumental holds, making it easier to fall into the feelings of being alone that Dawn Golden sings about. Even when Still Life plays in the background, it's easy to be drawn into the melancholic temperament the songs grant. Dawn Golden manages to create a vision with his music, either illustrating your own emotions with his swoon or making it easy to understand what the complex emotions he sings about mean. "It's your world I live inside," Tortoriello confesses in "Brief Encounter," the last song of an absorbing record. The repetitiveness of the background thrums achingly, verifying the feeling of succumbing in a relationship.

You can't help but reminisce about relationships and different outlooks you've had in life while listening to this heartfelt and captivating record. Each note astutely placed to lure you into the emotions of Still Life. The album transports you into your personal life, powerfully portraying feelings you have or had and leaving you to reflect on the whirlwind of emotions we experience as humans. While Still Life was an excavation of Dexter Tortoriello's past, he initiates us to dig into ours too.

Track List:

    Discoloration
    All I Want
    Sleight Orchestra
    I Won't Bend
    Swing
    The Beekeeper
    Still Life
    Chevrotain
    Last Train
    Brief Encounter