Artist: Deionarra
Album: Wonders and Misfortunes of Being Locked Up
Label: Independent/unsigned
Released:12/11/2021
Country: Argentia
Deionarra has had an industrious final month of 2021, putting out: The Red Trilogy-the combined tapes of the previous three albums all of which were released earlier this year and are to be viewed as a whole, Freedom is a Lonely Hill, and finally Wonders and Misfortune of Being Locked Up. While all of these efforts are accomplishments and worth talking about in their own right, Wonders and Misfortunes of Being Locked Up is set apart in it’s dynamics. In this singular piece,we get a feel for Deionarra’s style, unique in its sonic landscape to the point of being instantly recognizable.
Though the album overall is relatively short, around twenty minutes, the listener is treated to a range of emotive pieces that are at times conflicting, albeit complimentary. There are driving moments of brooding, that sound as though they are the contemporaneous b-side of a high-fantasy film of the 80’s such as Legend, interspersed with melancholic and longing, set at times to the melodious strumming of a Spanish guitar, paying homage to the artist’s Argentinean roots.
There are even bright spots at times with braying synths, but the overall feeling of the album is subdued in atmospheric effect. The oppositional force created by these peaks and valleys of hope and despair, bright and melancholic, is really what makes the album seem as if it were longer than its actual runtime, to a positive effect. This skillful blending of pace is best exemplified in the titular track, wherein there is an ebb and flow to how the pieces of the composition come together. There are no time signature changes per se, but there are brief pauses where the tempo is altered slightly between melody and chorus, creating an illusion of pacing a small room confined within the bars of the time signature itself with equal feelings of trepidation at being locked away and ponderance about where we find ourselves.
The most interesting aspect of WaMoBLU, given it’s brevity, is it’s pacing, as there are oscillations, or pivot points between the tracks themselves so that the mood is constantly pacing back and forth. Yet, as the title of the album and certain tracks implies how there may be many misfortunes of actually being locked up, whether for safety or punishment, listening to this album is anything but. Instead, it feels more like a privilege to be let in on the wonder we are given. Let us hope that Deionarra will not leave us pacing for too long in anticipation of the next release, because that would be an offense worthy of being locked up.
Be righteous by listening to and supporting Deionarra on Bandcamp:
