Dontaskgen - Stranger (Live) (Single)

That man DONTASKGEN just keeps breaking down any & all barriers musically, last year being his most consistent singles-wise, each record-breaking down a new wall. Still, he's here to offer us the live alternate version of "Stranger," which I have, to be honest, & say, is light years ahead of the original. I love the original, but it's something about stripping it down that makes it that much more poignantly raw.

Recorded at Houston's own Barron Studios, DONTASKGEN performs open-heart surgery on his that has been broken. It's depressing that people who once meant the world to us can sometimes wind up being strangers suffering from impostor syndrome. Yet, even when we seek something new, we tend to go back to those same kinds of people in hopes that they'll fill those empty spaces within us. Still, maybe it's us, you who needs to become the stranger, at least for enough time for you to regroup.

The piano keys & that solo just add to the record's emotional intensity, making it feel like your glass heart is shattering in slow motion. It is then fast-forwarded to a time-lapse of you searching extensively for the shards in a large field to have the strength to anneal them back together, hopefully. The visuals to the live performance are beautifully subtle, lambent as those candlelights surrounding them in that dim setting & you'll be delighted to know that this ain't the only live performance of a past record of his, be sure to check out the live visuals to "Bathroom Stalls" as well & keep your fingers crossed, like me, that he'll hopefully do more, maybe even do one for each release from last year then package them all into an EP cause this is powerful stuff, raw talent in its purest form.