I’m sure others might feel differently, but after the last year, 2021 has felt like an opportunity for redemption and growth. Being stuck inside for the better part of a year, and even then once you’re let back out into the world, to see it like… this? It does things to people. And throughout time, music has served as an incredible tool to shed off some of that weight and anxiety, to see yourself and your feelings represented in art, and perhaps identify with something along with others.
Dabin didn’t create his new album, Between Broken, with those particular ideals in mind (as he explains below), but in the sense that music is subjective, that’s how it feels to me. And that’s a beautiful thing.
“‘Between Broken’ feels like a return to the sounds that inspired me to make music in the first place,” explains Dabin on his third studio album. “I spent years trying to find and develop my own sound and this record felt like I had the means to pay homage to the sounds that pushed me to create my own music. Growing up I’d listen to a lot of acoustic and folk music. Those genres felt so delicate and intimate and that was a feeling I really wanted to replicate in ‘Between Broken.’ You’ll also hear some mid-west emo and pop punk influences sprinkled throughout the album as a nod to the bands that got me through some tough times.”
He continues, “The concept behind ‘Between Broken’ alludes to the idea that we are all just this union of memories and experiences. And more often than not, it’s the negative experiences that shape our character and make us stronger. While it’s easy to let the weight of these negative experiences dictate our sense of self, I think it’s the moments in between these experiences, and how we overcome them, that define us and shape us into the people we are today. The time we spend in between these experiences is just as valuable as the experience itself. This is also where the kintsugi imagery came into play. The process of mending broken pieces with gold to create something new and beautiful felt like the perfect way to represent the meaning behind this album. There is inherent value in between the broken moments of our lives and that’s what I wanted to explore in this album.”
Listen to Between Broken below, out now via Seeking Blue.
Photo via Rukes.com
