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Reviews: Akira the Don - Akira the Don's First EP


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atd A short, sweet and somewhat bitter debut, Akira the Don's First EP doesn't seem to follow any fictional character, but Akira (Adam Narkiewicz) himself has his personality drip onto the 3 original songs provided in the EP. Of course, there is quite a bit of fiction in it. It doesn't completely represent Adam, but however represents an alter-ego of sorts. The EP begins with "John the Baptist", a song that gets it's point across quickly, though is vague. In this song, Adam is angry, though doesn't yell through the entire song, and only keeps it for his deepest frusturations. This appeals to me. I don't like many songs that are just extremely frusturated during the entire thing and yelling all the time, etc. When it's represented as it is in "John the Baptist", I feel empathy. I enjoy this song quite a bit, and will still listen to it on loop from time to time. Next up is the second original song, "Akira the Don's Drinking Song". This song is very obviously about Adam's previous drinking habits, however, unlike "John the Baptist", it's happy, cheery, and jammin' as hell. It's like he's telling a story throughout the entire thing, but in an enthusiastic and positive way. It's not as vague or slow as "John the Baptist", and this is my only problem with the song, it feels...out of place when put right after "John the Baptist". There isn't much I can say about this song, since it's a bit redundant, but still very enthusiastic and happy. The chorus's vocals have this weird effect to them that drives me a bit crazy, but I can let it slide. It's not bad. Next is "One Bullet", the most forgettable song on the EP, in my opinion. I can never remember the lyrics to this song, it's like the black sheep of the EP. Though, when I do listen to it, it fascinates me. A few lyrics in this song are used later in Adam's later songs like Hypocrite. The whole song has much more of a rap aesthetic to it, when listening to it, it makes me think of a more aggressive and angry, testosterone-pumping version of Wu-Tang Clan. It's weird and hard to describe, and honestly not really that good, but it's sort of enjoyable. Last, but certainly not least, is "Liverpool (Mothboy Remix)". This is a remix of a song Adam would release later, by "Mothboy". God knows who he is, from what I've heard his music is nothing like Adam's, but maybe he's just a mutual that Adam begged to or something. It's the same as normal Liverpool but it feels much more like a prototype. It tells the story of when Adam shoplifted, was caught, sent to prison, though this was bad timing as his parents had "just regained his trust". Instead of enduring them scolding, grounding or punishing him, he decided to run away into "Liverpool". Onto the quality of the song...it sounds alright, actually. As I said, it is much more like a prototype of the later original Liverpool release. The vocals are probably the part that shine out the most, because of how mediocre they are. The singer is young, most likely Mothboy himself. At some points you can hear him running out of breath and quickly inhaling after a sentence, and at one point, slows down and makes everything sound awkwardly put together. It's rough, and the vocals used were probably the first take done by Mothboy.

Overall, I enjoyed the EP. It subtly shows off the type of music that Adam is capable of, and the type of stories he can flesh out into the form of music. It entertains me until the end, and I'll still loop some songs from it when I need something to listen to.

FINAL RATING: 7/10



atd
Akira the Don (Adam Narkiewicz), in REAAL LIIIFE