"Out in the Dark" by Forget!
Forget! - "Out in the Dark"
Justin Bell is a musician from St. Charles, IL. His work has been published in TKS and Cellar Door. He has also played numerous shows and events for DIY Galesburg. You can find his music on his Bandcamp page: Forget!
Knox College student Justin Bell’s Forget! project has before been focused on the essentials with stripped down recordings usually consisting of just an acoustic guitar and Bell’s voice. While not a stylistic departure, Bell’s new album Out of the Dark represents a stage of experimentation for the twenty-one year old musician.
Recorded in the Knox College WVKC studios where he also works as a recording engineer, Bell’s album experiments with Nine-Inch Nails inspired plunderphonics, looping, synthesized instruments and drums. Despite this all, its most notable feature might be its quietness.
Bell attributes this softness to the album’s rushed mastering process, but it also comes as a statement of confidence. Coming from a poetry background, Bell likes to let his songs be structured around words, whether they be his, or the sampled voices of William S. Burroughs on “Interlude (I Am Junk)” or Marilyn Monroe on “Am I Happy?”.
Bell’s songs tend to focus on the traditional acoustic emo subject matter of depression, addiction and loneliness, but they bring a specificity and confessional edge that stop them from feeling repetitive or aimless, even as they run past the five minute mark.
With all his experimentation, however, Bell returns to a more standard setup by the last track, the candid “Weigh On Me (Sorry About The Tattoo)”. Although written before the rest of the album, it feels a bit like an explanation or post-mortem of the album, and It plays up all of the contradictions that make Bell’s music compelling. It’s both self aware and vulnerable. Serious and humorous. Soft and clear.
Want to hear more music from Justin Bell and artists like you?
Are you interested in hearing more songs from Forget! and Justin Bell? Be sure to check out Justin's full-length album "Big, Bright Depression EP" which we published in December of 2016.
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