Singer-songwriter Fred Argir recently put out a brand-new album, ‘Despair & Ecstasy’. The new 12 song record takes on serious issues, with the opening track such as ‘Jumper’, and addresses various other topics that one might have when they view life with a bleak outlook. Argir brings about a whirlwind of emotions through singing style and unique arrangements with a fusion of dark and unsettled synth-rock.
Even the album’s artwork is dark. It features a pale, deathly looking girl under water. Presumably, she’s drowning. Some have suggested death can offer the greatest ecstasy. The jury is still out on whether or not there is any truth to such an assertion. However, this submerged woman may be just about to experience the rush of death – if there is even such a thing.
An inclusion titled “Babes” may be one of the album’s few bright spots. It finds Argir expressing obsession over another. Even so, though, he sings it with a harsh vocal tone. He is certainly no crooner. Everything he sings comes out sounding like suffering. Maybe he can also sound happy or even funny, but he doesn’t do anything like that during this project.
Although this album is heavy on keyboard in places, it also incorporates plenty of electric guitar. For instance, “Leave a Trace” begins with an extended electric guitar solo. Electric guitar riffs weave their way around all throughout this four-minute-plus track.
The album closes with one titled “Triage,” which is notable for its big drum sound, which then gives way to more electric guitar work. Thankfully, Argir has softened his vocal tone just a tad for this one. He sounds much more vulnerable than much of what precedes this track. Eventually, though, that gruff vocal sound takes hold again.
Ultimately, this is his preferred singing style, like it or not. Another song that varies the vocals somewhat is “The Misunderstood.” This track begins with high, wordless singing. It sounds like a female’s voice, although it could be a rarely heard higher side of Argir’s vocal range.
Despair is certainly a key component to our post-pandemic world today. Thus, there’s more than enough despair saturating Fred Argir’s Despair and Ecstasy album. Maybe too much. Then again, a whole musical style – Gothic – is built around music micro-focused on despondency of nearly every kind.
Therefore, if you enjoy wallowing in the darker and sadder sides of life, this album will give you plenty of sounds to mirror your depressed emotions.
Others, though, may come out the other side wishing Argir would have widened his perspective just a little bit more. No matter how you view his content, though, Argir has created an album of music you won’t soon forget.