Mary Bleeds just released their eponymous debut album, gritty, menacing and bold. But the band’s lead vocalist and singer-songwriter Guilherme Cosme has even more exciting news to share!
The power of music has been an important part of Guilherme Cosme ever since he was small. That love for the art ended up driving him to study the works of influential jazz artists like Nina Simone, training his voice, and that love naturally led to him being a self-taught musician he is today. Brazilian by nation, the poet side of him also grew fond of English language. Loving the phonetics of the language, the artist moved to Ireland to surround himself in that language.
Music became the artist’s vessel of self-expression ever since he was a teenager struggling with mental health issues. Writing songs was his emotional release back then, a way to handle the dark endless pit. And mental health is also the main theme for Guilherme Cosme’s new EP as a solo artist.
Aptly titled “Demon”, this EP follows the artist being admitted to a mental institution for the first time this year and meeting a lot of people in similar positions as himself. The experience led Guilherme Cosme to release the songs he had written months ago – 5 songs where each of them goes deep into the core of the artist and the themes of bipolar disorder, anxiety attacks, trauma and depression. Emotional self-expression unfiltered.
The album begins with “Lungs”, part 1 of the story about to unfold. Dark and heavy, his vocals along with echoing and voices form an impenetrable web of despair and fear coming from childhood trauma and the resulting PSTD.
Next to follow is the title track – “Demon”, part 2 about panic attacks and anxiety. The atmosphere is dense and the melodic beginning soon sinks into a haze, thick as tar to the point of suffocation and visceral pain.
“Void”, part three of the EP, looks into the state of paranoia and destructive mindset. Warped phrases echoing through the blocked and distorted mind with no time left to recollect before a wave of horrible thoughts come crashing in again, poisoning the mind.
“No Bother” takes us to the long path of recovery, sulking more than once with no hope for better times. Trying the best at living one day at the time and waiting for the light is marked by the slowness. It feels lighter than the other songs, but is still heavy to the point of dragging a stone of emotion by a rope along the path.
Last song looks deep into bipolar disorder and depression – “Doubter”. The omnipresent pain coupled with feeling inadequate, the singer battles what he often feels like a losing war, and all that’s left is hoping for the best for his loved ones and for this pain to leave. Slow and looking into the deep void in himself, it’s a person sitting in his room, unable to help himself.
It’s a heavy listen, no doubt. Combined with a video produced for each song adding a visual approach, “Demon” EP could easily make the listener feel the emotions emitting from the songs. It might be offputting and it probably is for some listeners, but at the same time it’s an important release addressing ailing mental health. This release is the artist exposing himself at the most painful in his wish to show how it feels. It’s his hope to reach out for people out there suffering in silence from much the same broken thoughts and feelings.
Mental health is something that’s often overlooked, mostly because its problems are not as visible as other illnesses. In the era where social distancing is the norm and lockdowns led to being stuck alone with your own thoughts, I feel it’s more important than ever to bring mental health to spotlight and address the issues such as stigmas and false beliefs. Guilherme Cosme’s “Demon” is an insightful and deep addition to the dialogue of mental health matters.
Don’t forget to support this project and to follow on Instagram, SoundCloud, and YouTube. You can also check out his official website. If you are able to provide monetary support, you might consider downloading it on Bandcamp.
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This coverage was created via MusoSoup #Sustainablecurator
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