Album Review - Out of Touch, by Brothertiger
Back in High School, I discovered Brothertiger thanks to Spotify's "Discover Weekly" playlist. I listened to the song, "High Tide," and immediately fell in love. John Jagos, the sole mind behind Brothertiger, writes beautiful and very personal lyrics in High Tide, part of which has become a mantra in my everyday life; 1: "I climbed to the top of the fiery wall, swallowed my emotions, and embraced the fall." 2. "My lungs are filling up with water, but I won't sink to the void." Both lyrics really strike at the heart of this song, which is, no matter you're struggles, at the end of the day, you will make it through. Although "High Tide" was my first love, the second-to-last song, "Upon Viridian Waterways" has to be my number one from the album. Lyrically, it's pretty simple. The only lyrics are "We've gone so far beyond emotion in daylight, surrounded in my own mind against the cold night." That alone is so poetic, but those lyrics turn into this mantra that loops for most of the song. While the lyrics loop, the instrumental builds, and builds, and builds into this emotional wall of wailing synthesizers. In my mind, I imagine this song has a character. This character's emotions are portrayed by this instrumental that builds as they get more and more meotional, until finally, they come to terms with whatever theiir struggles are, and right then and there, the buildup ends. Keeping this song fairly simple really is its strength. During my first listen to "Upon Viridian Waterways" I was watching the rolling lightning of the thunderstorm we were having. Call it whatever you want, luck, divine intervention, whatever; as the song kept building, the lightning was getting quicker and quicker. There were more and more streaks of electricity going across the sky. That beautiful light showcase put on by nature with this emotional song truly brought me to tears. I cherish that memory fondly, and will always have a place for the album, "Out of Touch" in my heart.