Baya Michaelson – TORN (Album Review)

Baya flaunts his creative ambition and tact for adventurous production; however, he ultimately struggles to find his own musical identity.

Music has been a key part of Michaelson’s life since a young age. From playing the violin as a child to playing the sax at jazz clubs as a teen, it’s obvious that Michaelson is one of those people who has music in their bones, and the musical experiences he has had in his life can be seen throughout TORN’s experimentative sound.

The first song, Something Nice, immediately feels unique and independently creative production-wise. Michaelson performs with a cyborg-sounding voice while hitting similar eccentric vocal notes to artists like David Bowie and Billy Idol, which is unique to start off with but becomes a bit of an annoyance later in the album.

However, for this particular song, it works well and opens the album with a sense of intrigue and otherworldliness.

“Vampire Tears” follows up with a distinct 80s synth-pop sound that has a dark horrorcore vibe to it lyrically.

The drawback of the song, however, is that sometimes the vocals feel like they are way overproduced, to the point where Michaelson becomes totally ineligible, which makes the song hard to follow and even harder to understand Michaelson’s concept as an artist.

However, I will say that I think it has one of the better instrumentals on the album and captures the feeling of a dark, eerie atmosphere.

While on the topic of instrumentals, it’s “Sirius Nostalgia” that takes the top prize for best production, in my opinion.

The song’s spacey, vapor-like soundscape is an environment in which Michaelson seems to thrive, finding his footing with a soft, introspective sound that has the same nostalgic vibe as the instrumental.

I definitely think it’s the album’s best song and the best attempt at the sound Michaelson was trying to capture.

Post “Sirius Nostalgia,” however, is where I think things start to lose focus and Michaelson struggles to give each song a unique style or sense of flavour.

Although it feels like he has found his own sound on the production side of things, vocally, Michaelson comes off as if he is doing a half-decent Bowie impression with overmixed, filtered vocals.

Specifically, the vocal filters are the problem. I immensely applaud trying to sound different and separating yourself from the status quo; however, when it feels like your voice is getting in the way of a better-sounding instrumental, there is a huge problem with your vocal performances.

CONCLUSION: I appreciate Michaelson’s attempts at creating a completely new sound and combining elements of different genres; in terms of artistic merit, he definitely ticks the box. However, the style he has come up with definitely needs ironing out and simplifying into something a wider range of listeners can understand, as I feel like the only person who could possibly understand Michaelson’s music is himself. Songs like “Sirius Nostalgia” show that there is a lot of potential with Michaelson’s Bowie-esque experimental sound, and it should definitely be explored; however, right now, it is not ready.

Written by Jake Campbell.