Chemicals by Despain (Self-released single)

Chemicals by Despain (Self-released single)

Despain is the creation of Los Angeles-based singer / songwriter Matt Skajem, best known for fronting pop punk/emo bands Out With The Old and Best Kept Secret. Despain is the next chapter to Skajem’s music career and it’s definitely a wide-eyed auditory trip into the mind of a profoundly expressive artist. Describing his new content as “sad but stoned” on Soundcloud, Despain is releasing their debut EP one single at a time. Chemicals is the latest song to be unveiled, and it’s hallucinatory lyrical refrains and darkly infectious melodies bring the listener right smack into the tumultuous tripped-out world of Skajem’s Despain.

Singing in a deceptively smooth voice with warm grooving sonic passages, Skajem muses about “the chemicals running through my head, driving me insane” with the muted urgency of a performer seeking his new fix of imagination and intrigue. Skajem has never been one to mince words, and Chemicals definitely places the listener right into the heart of addiction. Channeling a young Lou Reed walking through the dirty streets of Hollywood while adding chill-out beats to the unfolding creation at hand, Skajem’s Despain is as enlightening as it is unsettling. Skajem definitely is an artist on the rise well worth seeking out, and his uncompromising tapestries will surely excite all types of music fans. Definitely looking forward to hearing the entire Despain WØNDERLVND EP in the near future.

(Review by Ken Morton)

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