Kat Button – Refocus (Album Review)

In today’s review, we will explore the world of an artist who primarily has a mission- the mission to share the reality of living with poor mental health whilst sharing hope and a steely determination to recover and achieve against the odds. She also has the intent to communicate that the journey of mental health recovery can have a beautiful destination, despite the bumps along the way.

The artist with this mission is none other than Kat Button, who has waited 17 years to release a concept album about mental health recovery from a personal perspective. The release of her album was delayed due to personal triggers, but the album titled ‘Refocus’ was finally released on September 19.

Refocus serves as a musical storybook with the songs marking themselves as different pages of the journey. The tracks talk about the reality of OCD, anxiety, overthinking (especially at night) and a desire to get better.

CBT also serves as a standout track from the album. CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, a way to help others learn how to manage their neurological afflictions, and in this case, helping Kat Button to manage her OCD in a conducive manner. With that, she learned how to refocus her mind, recover and enjoy life again.

The rest of the album discusses self-care, community, rest and relaxation time. These things together with CBT all help with managing symptoms as and when they arise.

One thing that definitely surprised me about this album is how well mastered the instrumentals actually are. The introductory track, ‘Begging You To Go’ has a very interesting timbre with multiple melodic sequences intertwined within its structure, giving a feel of a clean and eclectic soundscape. It almost sounds like as if it stands in the intersection of Enya, hip-hop and Kat’s own uniqueness. It’s quite fascinating to listen to.

The tracks within the album definitely switch their theme based on the lyrical content of each song and the concept embedded into it. Songs like ‘Anxiety Strikes’ and ‘Chasing My Breakthrough’ based on the title have a bit more of a German industrial techno feel, and I definitely hear a bit of a ‘Wolfsheim’ influence in it. It’s dynamic, with the artist’s semi-operatic vocals providing the track with its emotional propensity, colouring the otherwise cold feel of the instrumental. Once again, the instrumental is very well-mastered and composed. If anything, Kat Button is a great producer without any doubt.

There’s various emotions locked into the tapestry of this album, with tracks like ‘Alone With My Mind’ providing the listener with a more stripped-down and personal, raw look on her own struggles dealing with the trajectory of her mind. It differs from the soundscapes previously presented, which adds a lot of variety and introspection throughout the duration of the album.

The album does not fall into the trope of predictability at all, with an interesting switch within tracks like ‘CBT’ and ‘Happy Place’, that almost contain characteristics of light trance- reflecting the otherwise relieving and pleasant themes within these tracks. The latter presents itself with a very interesting lo-fi synthesis sandwiched between Reese basses and peppy syncopation, and I think the arrangement itself is extremely proficient and cool.

Songs like ‘Together’ also amp up the existential feel of this album, through techniques such as anticipatory chord structures and a build-up. There’s a definite influence of EDM subgenres throughout this album that’s quite distinct to pick up and is very delightful to listen to. The entire album does not only consist of EDM tracks, with the track ‘Back to Nature’ certainly sticking out as one of the best tracks that highlights Kat’s wonderfully raw and earnest vocals. I admit, the production level of the previous tracks were so fascinating that the vocals are not necessarily in the forefront due to VERY SLIGHT mixing differences, but this track is absolutely golden and operatic- almost putting me in the mind of some of Kate Bush’s more thought-provoking tracks.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the album. For a body of work entirely done by one person, the attention to detail and high quality within the production aspect definitely lands it plus points. The lyrics are also extremely apt and detailed in telling her personal story, struggle as well as victory with mental health, and I think this album is quaint and beautiful.

SCORE/Excellent: ‘Refocus’ is a very interesting effort by Kat Button in creating an album that intersects between autodidactic production as well as introspective, self-identifying lyricism. It’s filled with complex, sufficient instrumentation that definitely build a consistent theme throughout the album, combined with quirks and extra perks that would definitely keep you listening as a listener as well as further understand her narrative conducively.

[We rank singles, EPs, and albums on a scale of Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, and Outstanding]

You can also catch up with Kat Button on Instagram and Facebook!