A surreal, open backdrop provides us an implied canvas atop which Ian Bouras and his creative whims will together paint a colorful picture of sonic magic in the video for the new single “The Struggle to Live,” but if you think visual stimulation is the main reason to check this release out, you’d better take a look at the discography of its creator and think again. In the live video for “The Struggle to Live,” the imagery does not have to stand out with a bit of pizazz in order to keep up with the majestic nature of the soundtrack, which I would go as far as to say could be some of the sharpest content we’ve seen from Bouras in his career thus far. The audio is dream-laden, but the focus of the player who is bringing it to life for us is never removed from reality.
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/ian_c_bouras/
Beyond the surreal quality of the shots here, the music itself feels all the more avant-garde in the context it’s being presented to us in the video. To some extent, the lack of indulgent imagery is feeding into the narrative behind the melodies as much as the opposite is true, and while this might leave its meaning open to interpretations depending on who the listener is, that’s often half the goal when constructing an original piece of instrumental music. Bouras has no desire to be pigeonholed in this industry; if he did, it’s hard for me to imagine him ever working on a project like this one, let alone the scores of critically acclaimed releases he’s offered in the last couple of years.
“The Struggle to Live” enjoys a superbly crisp production style that I was immediately taken with upon listening to the track for the first time over the last week, and I don’t think you have to be a professional critic to recognize both its purity and organic foundations. There’s nothing synthetic or even slightly fake about the instrumental harmonies in this song – truth be told, there’s more of a sting in the transparent conveyance of the beat than there would have been from most any verse potentially sung here. It’s powerful, and with a vocalist at the helm, I don’t know if it would have been quite as effective because it’s all about the communicative nature of the tone as opposed to anything else. It takes a bold musician to make this kind of statement, but if you know Boruas’ work, this shouldn’t be coming as any kind of surprise this year.
APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-struggle-to-live-live-single/1667334090
I didn’t know the full stories behind this player’s future before coming across this most recent offering in February, but I’m very eager to hear what he can develop both together with other musicians in his scene and on his own in the future after getting a taste of “The Struggle to Live.” The buzz surrounding Ian Bouras has been consistent in recent years, and with the relative lack of competition around the underground at the moment, this is one fine sound that I would bet a hefty wager on with regards to gaining a larger following sooner than later.
Cleopatra Patel