Enjoyable rock mystique and compelling folk intertwine on LAZARENE, the consuming new EP from Dean Muscat, a singer-songwriter based in Malta. “These little musical stories explore themes of place, identity, and personal reawakening,” he says, while also noting how Maltese and Mediterranean themes are infused within tracks drawn from personal experience. “These songs are personal, some drawn from things I’ve lived through, others shaped by how I see life in Malta and around me today,” Muscat says.

“Darkness” opens the EP with palpable immersion, as twangy guitars and scene-setting vocals exude a debonair charm. “I see the darkness, I feel the clouds closing in,” Muscat sings, conveying a sense of foreboding — and excelling into a delectable second half with more expressive guitar movements and backing vocal haunts. “My Muse is Gone” ensues with a more folk-ready lushness, weaving melancholic “blue as the moon / I cried me a river” sentiments alongside tender acoustics and lonesome electric guitar. Dean Muscat envelops across both rock-ready vigor and folk-forward introspection, and the EP’s opening one-two punch showcases precisely that.

Another highlight arises in “Her Odyssey,” which is especially indicative of the EP’s thematic focus on finding oneself again following being lost. “She maps out her odyssey,” Muscat’s vocals begin within a ghostly folk entrancement, audibly depicting a personal journey thereafter as lovely guitar work drives into the “haunted by ghosts of yesteryear” vocal contemplations. The “life begins to bloom” sentiments on the subsequent finale “Night’s End” feels like an artful continuation, conveying new beginnings following tumult. LAZARENE is an absorbing success of an EP from Dean Muscat.

—

“Darkness” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.

We discovered this release via MusoSoup.

The post Dean Muscat – ‘LAZARENE’ EP appeared first on Obscure Sound: Indie Music Blog.