EP REVIEW: Candyland – Drift
It’s always said throughout time that life is like a box of chocolates, but it’s never been promised that it’s all sugar and sweetness. That’s what Australian act DRIFT aim to get across with their latest EP Candyland.
Candyland is a six-track exploration into the complexities of the human mind, particularly within the areas of mental illness. Looking into common conditions such as anxiety and depression, the group put their honest and true feelings to music to show the world exactly what they’re battling with, giving a peek into the inner-workings of their psyches day by day, night by night. It’s not a new concept within the alternative music world – discussing mental health issues has been an award-winning point of interest for decades and beyond – but, as unique as every brain to another, is how fresh these tracks are with discussing such hard-hitting topics.
Kicking off the EP is I Want You Dead, a song that details the intense war between positive and negative mental attitudes within one’s mind. Taking that gloomy sound that’s resonated through rock music since the heyday of grunge in the 1990s, it’s used to create the atmosphere of confronting one’s own dark and intrusive thoughts, alongside the confrontational lyrics that bring life and being into mental illness, personifying it as a villain in its very own tragic play. With the lyrics being in a first-person tense, it makes the experience being sung about more personal and more damaging. It brings a new depth to how serious of a fight it can be between someone’s natural love and joy for life and the depression that wants to take it all away. It’s a striking opening number and raises the hopes that what follows will hit as strong as I Want You Dead has.
The main single release from Candyland is Burden, an ode against the normalisation of toxic masculinity. A stereotypically sounding rock track, it looks society in the eye and confronts it on how the “burden” of the patriarchy falls upon everyone. This topic, compared to the likes of mental illness and suicide, is not as popularly discussed within the bars of a rock song, particularly not by bands with male members. This standpoint is a very important one and is a subject that should be touched upon more, especially within alternative music spaces and especially by the men in these spaces. There is only so much women can do to stay safe and look after themselves in a patriarchal world. Men have more power than anyone to make change, and DRIFT are shoving that in the faces – and ears – of everyone who allows themselves to be educated on such issues.
The EP comes to a soft and bruised conclusion with Too Late, a song that is just a voice and a guitar. Recorded away from the fancy studios and clean-cutting sound equipment, it comes across as more homemade and closer to the heart than any other track on Candyland. Bringing together a personal experience of how it feels to reach the lowest low in life and fight against all odds to try to come back, it feels both hopeful and hopeless in its soothing strummed melody clashing with its down-trodden lyrics. It’s a song to hold hands and sway to, while hearing all about the end of the road and the true grit of hitting rock bottom. Perhaps this is a song that can bring people together who once felt alone and in the dark, and together they can find the light at the end and have a happier and healthier tomorrow. Just perhaps.
DRIFT have managed to bring their free-flowing emotions to their music so succinctly and in such a catchy and well-written way. Finding a sound that works so well can be a tough wall to break down for many musicians and so early on the band have began that journey successfully and have paved their way to what could be an even more successful future. They just have to write as they take life in their strides, one step at a time, following the rolls that the dice gives them. Life is like Candyland: there will always be a winner, and the winner will defeat all obstacles in their way.
Rating: 7/10
Candyland is out now via Huevo Records.
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