Where Influencers Die is the powerful new album from The Beautiful Fear, the project of English producer/musician Matthew Bannister. A range of dreamy synth-led pop and rousing rock escalations propel a dynamic production. Thematically, poignant reflections on evolving modern life are filled with wit and nuance. The digital age’s contributions to inequality, societal decay, and greed are explored in particular, amidst a compelling existential angst and quest for personal meaning.
“Franklin’s Kite” opens the album with a soaring introspection, as spacious backing textures complement a hypnotic vocal drive that explores hyper-capitalism and over-consumption — and the hypothetical reactions of historical figures. Lyrics like “Christie’s bought the pyramids,” and “a Disney-auctioned bridge,” highlight the commodification and commercialization within eroding pop culture; the album’s gripping thematic aims are set firmly in motion. The previously featured “Back to England” follows with its moody psych-friendly intrigue.
A scathing critique of societal power dynamics and privilege, “Comments on this Post have been Limited” crafts a spacey psych-pop soundscape provides a sense of oppression and helplessness — struggling to make an impact “over the old white men at this party,” and “the greed … the big lie disease.” The piano-laden plea of the title track — “I want to live where influencers die,” — also proves resonant, rising into roaring guitars alongside bright organs. The automation-like feel of inauthenticity is artfully conveyed: “So deep, indeed, profound assist / advise, revise, revisionist.”
“Land of Never Mind” closes the album with captivating allure, moving with an easy-going pace amidst repeated imagery of drones flying overhead and a sense of Big Brother foreboding in the “state TV is fine,” sighing. The accompanying soundscape is tranquil, though set amidst very relevant issues that Bannister delivers with an impactful poignancy.
