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Painstakingly Beautiful - Roland Faunte

     Roland Faunte is a blatantly honest artist who writes about real life struggles - especially mental health. His debut EP - Sewing Kit - can easily bring you to tears as Roland describes his long battle with depression.

    Sewing Kit is a masterpiece in so many ways. Faunte wrote, sang, and produced the album completely on his own. Not only highlighting the struggles faced with mental illnesses, Sewing Kit covers the insecurities all humans face as result of our society and culture. You will feel seen and heard as you listen to the EP, and there is definitely some way you will relate to the lyrics.

    The opening song Hand Over Hand details Faunte's battle with depression over the years - the highs, lows, and okay moments. This title track definitely sets the mellow and reflective tone of the EP, easily segwaying into the other seven songs to come.

    His next single A Happy Life portrays a step-by-step fall into the depths of life from light to dark, with lyrics about a relationship. The three-part chord progression shows three very different aspects of depression, each clearly different and worse than the prior. A beautiful background mixture of piano and drums culminate together to illustrate the emotional rollercoaster.

    The story is Liam Donohue's battle with bipolar depression - as his girlfriend loyally stands by and tries to help. He fantasies about what his life with her could be, but he mentally cannot keep going as he wishes he could.

    The first part is a "perfect love." Donohue imagines the relationships he longs to have with his special girl, full of morning kisses, movie-like experiences, and lots of giggly smiles. The second progression is more practical and real. Love and depression are at war, causing Donohue to begin to drown in his problems. He is holding onto the possiblity of a relationship and throwing out numerous promises of "I can be there." The third progression is complete sadness - the words "broken boy" are the basis of this complete depressive state. He battles with the pain of letting go of his partner or staying but getting hurt. 

    Lake is next on the track, a complex song describing bipolar disorder and the delusions of life that come with it the illness. The author comes close to ending it all - just wanting an escape from the afflictions of the world and out of his own head. He feels as if he is not enough for anyone as he is "alive with no sound."

    The EP's connecting climax is the longest song, Levers, with a heart-wrenching 7 minutes of poetical lyrics. An overall suicidal theme is implored as the singer tries to grasp onto the hope and joy of his childhood. Life has left him "cold and terrified." Levers brings forth a level of depth I have never experienced in any other song and causes a profound reflection on the heart of human condition. 

    The last four tracks are not as mind-boggling as the first four - but still jam packed with meaning and emotion.

    Sewing Kit is technically very simple and straightforward. The instrumentals are smooth and clean, but also cold and warm. There is a sense of consistent hopefulness but also strong hopelessness. The lyrics are painstaking, but the instrumentals in the foreground make the words pack a more powerful punch.

    Roland Faunte is like no other artist and brings forth an amazing sense of advocacy to listeners. His music - like Sewing Kit - is known to get people through tragic times and is a place of resonance when losing loved ones. He is known to share mental health resources on his numerous platforms, talk to fans through Twitter comments, and his website stores background information for different songs he has written.

    You can learn more about Faunte and listen to his music at Home | Mysite (rolandfaunte.com).


Roland Faunte - Sewing Kit - Reviews - Album of The Year




    Sally Ozmore

    April 24, 2023


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