by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Following the split of Boston's beloved Du Vide, Alex Fatato packed up for Nashville and began making music as Alexander, a solo project built on the isolation of moving to a new place and spending a great deal of your time alone. The Today/Tomorrow EP, comprised of "Waking Up On Time" and "Going To Sleep On Time," act as a parallel, a pair of heartbreaking songs that divide their sentiments between self-hate and self-improvement. Just as Fatato's lyrics slow drip depression on "Waking Up," there's an understanding that things will be better on "Going To Sleep," but it isn't any easier. Sometimes the hardest emotions to overcome are the ones we know are crippling but can't seemingly change, the duality of the mind working both for and against us.
Both songs are texturally stunning, drawing on lo-fi avant-slowcore, creating a sense of heart crushing despair that's as beautiful as it is lonesome. Alexander's guitars offer a closeness, a feeling like you're sitting in an empty home together with him, working through his thoughts with a meditative calm. When "Waking Up" tears into the distorted crescendo, it feels natural rather than chaotic, the tension boiling away in a cloud of blistering guitars. Together the pair are a perfect mirror, the hurt and the healing, swelling with emotion, but conscious of passing time. Fatato isn't completely alone however, and its friends that help keep things together, joined by Mason Schmitt's delicate vocal harmonies and Harrison Smith's spacious home recordings. It's a very promising start to a new beginning.
Alexander's Today/Tomorrow is out November 10th. Alexander will celebrate the release on November 11th at Flatrock Coffee in Nashville, TN (6 pm).