written by Maria Arroyo
Releasing his newest solo project as Human Potential is Andrew Becker! His newest album, I’m Glad You’re Alive, is his fourth release so far. Apart from being a musician, Becker also takes part in composition, film-making, and production.
Becker pulls influences from genres all across the board from the Baroque period to alternative rock and shoegaze-style pop. While listening to this album, it felt like he was exploring so many different musical ideas and really wanted to push the boundaries of traditional songs to create something eclectic and different.
Becker‘s first song “Marginalia III/ Bird Saw” shows some strong influences from the rock and punk genre. The recording was pretty gritty, so some of the more intimate parts didn’t come through that great. I was surprised by the style of music because it seems to be so different from the sort of calm album cover and title for the album.
“Nausea VII” had these really interesting rhythmic vocals that added a little more movement to the vocal line. The song itself was pretty chill and laid back, but there was still some edge that was present in the first song. His next song, “Beat The Heat,” was a needed turnaround for the album. There was more dynamic diversity to really make his album interesting. The spacey-like ambiance that he creates is done really well and also shows itself throughout the rest of the songs.
“Shifting Sands, Sliding Scales” became unlike the others in a sense that it was more intimate with the use of soft whispers in the background and a softer intro. I think the instrumentation fits the concept of the song exceptionally well. The only thing that threw me off came towards the middle of the song where there was a weird transitional moment that completely changed the energy of the song. I felt the song going in one direction, and then it completely changed direction. I guess if they were going for that kind of reaction, then great! It did throw the sound off a bit for me though.
His last few songs, “Theme From The Center Of A Room” and “Five Reasonable Goals,” showed a lot more movement in terms of dynamics and song structure. The harmonies were a lot more present and the use of different sound effects added another perspective to the album.
Becker really challenges a lot of typical ideas in music and created himself another world that he could experiment and try new ideas out without any boundaries, and anyone looking for just that has come to the right place.
