Review Summary: A mess even in its name.
The word ‘dissonance’, when used in the context of music composition, can be defined as an unstable tone that comes across as ‘harsh’ or ‘grating’ to those that hear it. Though generally thought of in a negative sense, dissonance is always used to some degree in most forms of music composition; from the builds and climatic releases commonly found in the realm of post-rock to the very change in sound timbre that occur during transitions from a verse to a chorus of the more conventionally-structured songs, dissonance, though often frowned upon by many, is a tool that every music artist must use to create their final products. The subject of dissonance is pertinent to this release as, while it is the EP’s title, the word perfectly represents the sound of what listeners will hear when listening: instability and disjointedness.
The music Brett Gleason attempts to create can best be described as a combination of the industrial composition style of Trent Reznor and the piano-heavy songwriting of Tori Amos. Though what appears to be an interesting combination on paper, the actual aggregate turns out to be a mess; the songwriter seems to have run into a number of foundational problems. For starters, the worst thing that Brett has against the success of his final product is his voice: it is devoid of any versatility of range that is vital in conveying emotions, and his timbre of tone is never changing, constantly staying on the same note, whether he is energized or somber. Because of this, Brett’s voice is just not able of carring the emotional weight implicated in his depressing lyrical topics. Lines such as,
'Everything is none / blinded by the sun / you’ll feel the heat / but can’t run', are not meant to be lamented in a bubbly, bored tone; dismally, it is this same level of pitch that Brett uses for the whole length of the EP.
A weak voice is not enough to condemn this effort; however, when it is combined with a cliché set of lyrics and an overall discordant sound picture,
The Dissonance does happen to fall the floor. Whether it’s the offsetting drums that disturb the rhythmic structure of opener “Futile and Fooled”, or the spontaneous electronic effects and questionable voice samples that plague closer “Idealize The Dead”, the EP turns out to be an example of when artistic experimentation hinders the final outcome drastically. As previously stated above, the lyrics are all written in a depressing mood. What Brett probably meant to be a release for his suppressed sentiment turns out to be too random and ill-fitted in context of the music. For example, during the peppy-sounding “The Escape” Brett breathes into the microphone,
'Hell awaits / With a smile on his face / You couldn’t escape…'. While the words are competent and suitable when read apart from the music, the combination of a ‘happy’ mood in the songwriter’s voice infused with an annoying guitar squeal promptly ruin the mood Brett was initially trying to convey. Brett’s piano-tied melodies do not really help things either as it sounds as if he has crafted a little ditty on the keys and has thrown in some random electronic elements to fill in the rest of the picture.
The offsetting conglomeration of Brett Gleason’s voice, weak lyrical subjects, and odd musical elements cause
The Dissonance to sound disjointed, outlandish, and, ironically enough, dissonant. More detrimental to the artist himself is that the problem with his limited vocal range and tone will hamper him in any music project in which he attempts to sing. It’s like he’s paralyzed in that aspect of his art, and since vocal training can only go so far, it is debatable if the Brooklyn songwriter will get far in the industry. That issue aside, much improvement is needed on the other two fundamental problems of
The Dissonance: lyrics and music. Though it is typically frowned upon to advise a revision of an artist's core sound, this is a case where Brett Gleason desperately needs to go back to the drawing board.
