I can’t begin to fathom the depths of Flannel Albert. Never mind I’ve known him for a few years now. The man has an emotional depth that most, including myself, have yet to even scratch the surface of. By now it’s common knowledge that he’s a remarkable writer. He’s mastered the art of false perception. Behind the playful composition and lilt of his melodic rap style, he buries some of the deepest parts of who he is. The darker parts of his melancholy.
It’s subtle, his ability to weave personal struggle among the deceptive cheer. Except when it’s not. Except when he wants you to get his point from the start. As with his latest single, “Darker Liquor.”
An Artist Exposed
I have to say, one of the greatest gifts an artist can give us is their honesty. It could be argued that their art is the truest expression of themselves. However, sometimes art is just art with nothing but the intent to create behind it. When an artist cracks him or herself open, exposes the blood and bone, that’s when they’re at their boldest. Their vulnerability speaks of immense strength and a courage most of us only deign to attempt. With “Darker Liquor,” Albert’s stripped away most of the facade. What we see here is the raw meat of the man.
Let me tell you something, when Albert wants to make a point, he doesn’t beat around the bush. He opts for a kick in the teeth rather than a sucker punch. “Darker Liquor” ain’t subtle. This is a song about the things we turn to when in the midst of a hard reality. A mean memory. A never-ending list of what-ifs and should-have-beens. Albert tells the story about the vices we wrap around ourselves when we’d rather run away than face the pain. He did later admit that liquor isn’t exactly his poison. But make no mistake there’s poison in the mind and spirit when you create something like this.
Lyrical Master
Lyrically, Albert opts for the totally uncomplicated. I’ll continue to sing the praises of this man’s pen. No matter his status in the annals of rap itself, he’s certainly cemented himself in my mind as one of the game’s best storytellers. Yes, even in a song that’s pretty straightforward, he manages to weave his signature wordplay in some truly breathtaking ways (e.g. “The fact is, self-control, you know I lack it. I want you wrapped around my body like my jacket that’s still in your closet hangin’ up like our phone calls”).
But he doesn’t leave you guessing where his heart is at this moment. Doesn’t want you questioning if the song’s about one thing or another. Even his selection in the type of dark liquor he’s found solace in (“Southern Comfort imprint in my cup”), the reference is obvious. There are no punchlines. Only lines that punch you in the gut.
Nowhere to Hide
While he’s still melodic in his delivery, there’s nowhere else for him to hide here. Visually, the “Darker Liquor” is as open as Albert himself. The video opens in a desert. Then once we’re past the actual introduction of the hook, we’re thrown in a cavernous room, Albert first coughing up, then seeping in the dregs of a liquor bottle. A void where only his self-deprecation and the hot stench of a hangover waft around him.
In just two choices of setting, we as viewers are thrown into the maddening isolation of dealing with our demons. More specifically the heartache of knowing the reason we’re here in the first place is our fault.
The genius of the “Darker Liquor” visual is purely setting. What could be more obvious than the barren and cracked earth of the desert? Out in the wilderness, nothing to protect you but your own thirst and need to survive. The heat is oppressive during the day like the hot breath of accusations (from a lover, a friend, family… yourself).
At night it’s chilly, lonely, painfully dark. The silence is more deafening than any wall of sound. The incessant echo of guilt, self-loathing. Memories of something you once had that you let get away from you. The night is long enough for you to ache. So you reach out, hoping for a reprieve. Your hand graces the ice cold of a liquor bottle (a pipe, a nameless companion) and for another eight hours you’ve managed to ignore the pain instead of face it. Just one more night.
In the Void…
Then you wake up in a cavernous hall. One more night turned into two, turned into twenty. Now you’re here. Nowhere to hide. You can’t see the walls, but somehow they still manage to close in on you. This is the spiral you’ve driven yourself into. An endless room of nothing. A single spotlight incessantly beaming down on you as if the universe itself is pointing its finger at you. Accusing you. Judging you.
You look down to the pool of weariness and pity you just crawled from. Then you reach into your pocket. A flask. You don’t need much. Just enough to keep the voices back a little while longer. (What did DEAN say? “In the void I can’t be sober.”) Yet all you can retrieve from your tin savior are a few drops. So what now?
해장: A Choice
You’re in a spiral. A psychedelic whirlwind of bleeding neon lights and poor decisions. All because you were looking for an escape. We have two choices: keep running or face ourselves.
We last see Albert surrounded by the lights (a sort of makeshift prison of standing floor lights). There are no bars here. The lights are widely spaced apart. He could walk out if he truly wanted to. That desert he was in was his mind tormenting him. His own guilt telling him he had no way out. But in the end, he’s made his decision. He pours out that SoCo imprint and drops the bottle. It silently crashes to the ground as the song ends. No more desert. No more endless void. As the standing lights look on like a jury of his peers, he realizes once he lets that bottle break he’s free to go. And he does.
The Mind of Flannel Albert
Seems Albert’s penchant for story has extended to his visual style. He did, after all, direct the video. While photographer Vuzoku provided editing and DP work, this all came from the mind of Albert himself. “Darker Liquor” is an incredible piece of art. Again, Albert burying the emotionally complex within something that on its surface is really quite simple and straightforward. If this is any indication, we have much to look forward to from Flannel Albert in 2020.
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