So how does all of this in-depth analysis on what music is relate to this artist that no one knows about?
iamsleepless is a solo musical project by someone with quite a history. He has been entertaining for years on his YouTube channels (Bananapielord and Hewbz), but gradually began to focus more and more on music-making, especially after a hand injury that prevented him from being on his computer all day. One of the videos he made on the Bananapielord channel discussed his rather depressing past, and his music very clearly calls back to that past while talking about how he feels in the present day. It's clear that Hollow Man is a passion project and it pays off.
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Album: Hollow Man
Artist: iamsleepless
Year Released: 2014
Genre: Electronic / Acoustic
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This album is a unique combination of both electronic music and acoustic guitar. It's not a very common combination, but somehow the songs manage to all fit together, with a soft, relaxing feel throughout. It's a good album to wind down to after a long day.
The first song, Distant Admiration, is an electronic song, and a very catchy one at that. Catchy doesn't make a good song, however, and while it is a good opener, it's one of my least favorite songs on the album. It definitely fits with the album, but it lacks the heart and soul of the songs that follow.
From a composition standpoint, it still is quite impressive. Its main melody is heard throughout nearly the entire song while the surrounding tracks start to do different things. Around the three-minute mark the song starts to slow down, but it also gets a bit less interesting. Luckily it speeds back up about a minute later to a mid-tempo pace. The song closes after some repetitions of similar melodies, when it probably should have ended about two minutes earlier. After the opener comes the acoustic songs, which are easily the highlight of the album.
A World Apart is a pretty simple in terms of the guitar work, but it is so calming and soothing that it is hard not to like. The singing is impressive, and the lyrics being sung are poetic in nature:
A world apart,
An ocean between our hearts,
This is who we are,
They can't keep us apart.
Those words - that's something that could be turned into a poster or be put in a frame. That's something a husband tells his wife on their wedding day. That's something a young man tells his family before going out to war.
It would be completely inaccurate to call this song a musical masterpiece, but it has passion behind it and that's what sells the song.
The title track, Hollow Man, features some decently impressive acoustic guitar work. Once again, the lyrics are fantastic:
I'm just a hollow man,
Someone that I can't stand,
My hands are killing me,
Who I am, is it who I see?
The man behind iamsleepless had a hand injury that crippled his ability to make frequent YouTube videos, something that had been his way of expressing himself for over five years. This song is a clear response to that incident - he claims to be "hollow" because he was unsure of who he really was. These lyrics once again make the song, although the music itself is still rather impressive on its own.
But isn't this lyrical prowess something non-exclusive to iamsleepless? Don't all lyricists get their inspiration from somewhere? Why would these lyrics be greater than that of "Stairway to Heaven" or "Elanor Rigby"? The answer is they're not.
When you take away the lyrics from this album, you have some good electronic music and decent acoustic guitar, but not much else. From a pure musical standpoint, this album really does not stand out. But for some reason the lyrics and the guitar really make these songs work, and the electronic songs somehow manage to complete the package, despite the fact that songs like "Distant Admiration" would not normally be paired with the likes of "A World Apart". What makes this album so special?
As an interlude, another electronic piece, entitled Suspended in Time, is played. It sounds like an interlude song when you listen to it, which is good for the album but not so good for the song itself. While it's not really impressive for that reason, the album also would not feel complete without it. After all, the lack of an electronic piece in the middle would make the first track really stand out in a bad way. It's a song that you would never deliberately choose to listen to, but it is a good interlude for the album. It also ends with an acoustic bit, which helps transition back into the acoustic guitar songs to follow.
Lonely Girl is the most complicated guitar song on the album, musically, but it doesn't have the same technical guitar bits that "Hollow Man" had, making it less impressive instrumentally. Once again, however, the lyrics do help - not as memorable as the prior two acoustic songs, but still good. There's also still the fact that the song is so calming and soothing that it's hard to hate.
Fly Away With Me is also pretty good, thanks to the addition of the girl accompaniment. There were certainly some missed opportunities for harmonization, as the girl only sings the same pitches as iamsleepless instead of making chords with him. The lyrics are just as great as the previous songs. It's still a good song, but it definitely could have been better.
In My Arms is the most forgettable song on the album. It sounds just like "Fly Away With Me" and doesn't do too much different. The lyrics are pretty forgettable too, which is sad considering the rest of the album's great lyrical work. There's a decent guitar feature in the middle, but it isn't anything to write home about. Just like the other songs, however, the relaxing nature of the song does prevent people from just skipping past it. This song, at its best, is just another part of the near-zen-like experience that comes with listening to this album or albums like it.
The album closes in the same way it opened, with an electronic piece, except Transcending Time is a lot slower and more atmospheric, making it a really good closer. Unfortunately, like the interlude, it doesn't do too much other than close out the album. It's the weakest song on the album by far, but it serves its purpose, so it's hard to complain.
So without the lyrics this album is nothing, but the lyrics themselves, while sometimes really good, never really reach the levels of the more iconic songs. If that's the case, then this should be a bad album - especially with the odd combination of electronic and acoustic music - but for some reason it's not.
Art is a strange beast. It can be interpreted in different ways, and it can be liked or hated, depending on who is observing it. No one could ever give a completely right answer on what makes good art, and no one ever will. To some, the most impressive works of art are the most complicated. If a painting has an incredible attention to detail, and viewers can make out the face of a person who is far into the background, some would consider that true artistic talent. But to others, the most impressive works of art are simpler. These people appreciate not the painting itself, but what the painting intends to communicate. A painting of a bowl of fruit may not be that complicated, but the arrangement of that fruit, why each object is in a certain location and what that means.
So what makes this album so special?
Hollow Man is a bowl of fruit in the music industry. It's not the best, it's not the most complicated, and it's not the most impressive, but every note and word is deliberate and intentional, and that is what makes this album so good.
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Music Sample Video: <to be added at a later date>
iamsleepless' Bandcamp: http://iamsleepless.bandcamp.com/album/hollow-man
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