Sobville is the first EP released by artist Arrested Youth following his 2018 full length album, Fear. The tracks focus on the theme of taking personal responsibility for your thoughts and feelings. Arrested Youth has drawn me in with his intensely relatable and mindful lyrics. On his last release he said the lyrics are about ‘thinking of the things that are big in our heads but so small on the radar of life’.
The EP Features five tracks that all seem to focus on different aspects of the overall theme. ‘Dig’, the first track, is a powerful anthem that sets the tone by highlighting the idea of not being who he once was and how he is starting to see things differently. The hook includes the lines ‘Dig me up, from underneath, and you’ll see, I’m not who I used to be, I’m not who I used to be.’ giving insight into what inspired the work and making the listener feel powerful by the reminder.
The next track, titled ‘Expectations’, keeps up the anthem theme that holds strong throughout this album; all of the choruses are incredibly powerful and really draw in the listener. This particular track focuses on how expectations set by the world may not align with out true callings and leave us feeling like we’re not living our truth. He highlights this with the hook ‘…All the years I’ve spent, All the lives I’ve faked, Just to keep myself protected’.
The third track, titled ‘What You’re Made Of’, was the first track I heard from the album, it’s an empowering and blunt anthem. The song focuses on bouncing back from life’s troubles. Even when ‘I’ve been up, I’ve been down, I’ve been kicked down on the ground… I stand tall, where I’m at, Been to hell but now I’m back’. I put this track on to hype myself up because there’s something really inspiring about hearing him say ‘Show me what you’re made of’.
The second to last track ‘The Kid I Used to Know’ is almost a reflection of ‘Dig’ since he’s saying goodbye to his old self and his old habits. This flows perfectly into what is my current favorite track, a powerful ending to the EP, ‘Sob Story’.
This track pulls together the point he’s been building throughout the works, ‘I’ve been broke like a toy machine, I’ve been spit back out like some listerine, But I get up on my own two feet, ‘Cause I’m not some sob story’.
This track is another anthem and this repeating and developing chorus isn’t even the best of it. The bridge features a complete change in music, with its eerie and lighter tone. Its lyrics ‘You might be asking: “How can I be happy, When the whole universe keeps laughing at me?”, It’s pretty simple: let go of your hang ups, Life doesn’t owe me a thing’ always makes me feel powerful and calm, it’s a great reminder that we shouldn’t let the things that happen to us define us. This whole album serves as an eye-opening reminder that our thoughts are powerful and we have to be careful how we let them frame our lives.
– DJ Psyched