Bent Self, the hip hop, metal, industrial, and electronic brainchild of Dustyn Marsing, recently released their fourth studio album, Waves, on October 9th. The kind of genre-bending that Bent Self utilizes in their work combines atmospheric vibes and sounds with dark sounds straight from horror-core. Bent Self, and Waves in particular, offer a sound that is very unique that very few people have attempted to tame.
The lead single from Bent Self’s Waves is “Love Will Stay With You” and this is a track that should not be skipped. Opening with haunting vocals and creepy backing piano, “Love Will Stay With You” keeps listeners on edge the entire time. As the song progresses, the intensity of the song grows as well, evidenced in the increasingly coarse vocals with extra backing features underneath the vocals.
In terms of lyrics, Bent Self conveys messages of loving somebody even when things get difficult or even impossible at times. From listening to the song, it would be difficult to get this message without paying attention to the lyrics, which offers a unique juxtaposition between the words and the music that is both unique and captivating.
Bent Self ends its latest 10-track album with “We Will Not Be Ignored,” which features Louis Gibbor at the end of the track. The song opens with drums and bass while a woman reports about police brutality, clearly indicating that this song will not be happy by any means. Bent Self calls for resisting the system that allows for this kind of irresponsible and unaccounted for brutality that is all too common for many. The song ends with Louis Gibbor rapping over the same beat present in the majority of this song and then returning to Bent Self singing over the chorus. Bent Self ends on a very emotional song that is very necessary to be heard in this day and age.
Definitely be sure to check out Waves on all streaming services and don’t forget to follow Bent Waves on social media!
Words by Brendon Gardner