Shifty Eyes – Beast “a certain passion and intensity to the vocal performance”

‘Beast’ is a multi-layered, colourful and even manic few minutes of music that steals your attention and holds it captive for the extent of the track. The music is bright and bold, rhythmic in the right kind of way for those fans of hip-hop and for the clear ability to hear and follow each and every lyric along. The instrumentation takes a little inspiration from various different genres and sub-cultures, fusing a world-music sound with an industrial bounce, the result of which works brilliantly.

Running in unison with the music is the leading artist’s vocal performance and lyricism. The flow is the sort that fits in flawlessly with the movement and energy of the music, so you hear the voice as an additional instrument – it makes sense and the whole thing sounds complete. There’s a certain passion and intensity to the vocal performance that brings with it a sense of urgency. You feel compelled to listen, despite the good vibes of the music making you want to simply escape into the mood. This vocal quality makes the whole performance feel very real, the artist sounds unstoppable in many ways, the performance feeds into this underlying concept of the beast perfectly.

Once you start paying attention to the detail presented in the lyrics, there’s a lot that goes by. The change in flow from the fast paced to the somewhat more low-key as the hook makes its way into the scene, makes for a structure that keeps you interested throughout. In both cases you hear that intricate and descriptive detail describing the story and the feelings attached to it. The more you listen, the more you appreciate the consideration involved in arranging these lines and performing them in such a relevant way.

By Rebecca Cullen

Rebecca is a Musician and writer from Manchester, UK, with an MA in Song Writing