Review: To Be Gentle - Wounded

Label: I.Corrupt Records/Larry Records

Forming in 2018, TO BE GENTLE certainly is one of the most fascinating projects in all of Screamo. What's so fascinating about it is that TO BE GENTLE is a project full of projects. In terms of style and genre they vary from release to release. Sometimes it's in the line of Screamo, other times they dwelve into Ambient and Field Music or a mix of Ambient and Post-Rock, then they blend all of the mentioned styles. It's a loose project somehow, but there's one constant figure: Eve Beeker. She writes all of the stuff, plays all the instruments (at least in the solo-projects) and records the songs in her apartement. Speaking of recording, TO BE GENTLE created a vast amount of music in the last four years, from EPs to splits to sampler-contributions to an already impressive collection of full length-releases. "Wounded" is album number 6 (number 7 is finished too), if I didn't confuse anything...

With "Wounded" TO BE GENTLE head back to their origins in the best of Screamo-style. Eve is completed by Ryan on bass and Pat on drums. And even if I'm no expert to the band, I'd say that "Wounded" is the best thing they've done so far... at least, when it comes to their Screamo-related projects. The record was produced by Derek Frazier, who also was a part of their 2019-selftitled. But other than that Eve Beeker engineered, mixed and mastered the whole thing. Especially the early releases of TO BE GENTLE sounded pretty lo-fi, but "Wounded" is way more powerful. It's not overproduced or something, it's perfect the way it is and captures the whole mood properly.

I do like the songwriting a lot, as it's well-balanced throughout. They do their thing of mixing Screamo/Emo with Post-Rock and some subtle Metal-elements thrown in, but it's never ever pretentious or goes out of hand. The whole album clocks in at slim 31 minutes and flows really well. It's exactly the kind of Screamo-going-Post-Rock-stuff that I dig - also look at ATAMEO's "It sure is sad to hope for the Best while expecting the Worst" for another '22-record doing it right. "I am unafraid" starts the album fast and intense, but they don't stop there, even pushing it further with the 3-minute-long "A Thousand Words". Don't worry though, the tracks get shorter, with the 39-second-punch that is "Radiator Tubes". It seems like TO BE GENTLE stay in their frenetic fashion with the beginning of "Impulses", but they find their way to a stripped down and fucking epic "singalong-part", that covers the entire second half of the song and might just be the most beautiful thing I've heard all year. "Miasma" sure is an important song to Eve, cause it features Logan Rivera of her favourite band GILLIAN CARTER on guest vocals. It's a classic blend of Screamo and Post-Rock done well. The most Post-Rock/Ambient thing on the whole record is "Hell is real and it rots in my Brain", a calmed down instrumental track with an acoustic guitar, ambient effects who simulate a storm and various voice messages from a dad to his kid. Halfway through the track it goes full on Ambient-mode. It's cool stuff though, especially the first half is excellent and kinda adds to the whole concept of the album as Eve dedicates "Wounded" to her father. 

Speaking of the concept, "Wounded" revolves around Eve's mental illness. She's pretty outgoing about it, but it's something that helps a record like this to shine bright, and something that helps the listener to connect to the music, even if you can't directly relate to anything. Eve wrote the album over the course of two years between 2019 and 2021, which further proves how important this project is to her. The lyrical content is intense and thought provoking as fuck and one big part of the beautiful, coherent work that is "Wounded". What else? Nothing more than, check this out if you're into Screamo/Emo. It definitely is one of this year's highlights!

"...while there seems to be a hand that rests on my shoulder holding me back, I am grateful for the growing it has brought me."

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