More a collection of moods and memories, ‘at 5:43am’ delves deeper into Punchnello “the emotional composer” than the quick-witted MC. His palette is wide, brushstrokes broad, and his colors as enigmatic as he is.
‘at 5:43am‘ shows just how introspective Punchnello is, opening with a demo clip of one of his most recognizable tracks, “Green Horizon,” from his ‘LIME’ EP. This whisper of a nod leads into a track that rides that soft sigh on the radio-muffled strum of a guitar. “numb” is composed much as its name suggests (confirming that the track was first built, and the emotion evoked lead to its title). It’s a track dipped in Novacane (or codeine, if a muffled confession hidden in the song’s lyrics is taken at face value), a bit cottony around the edges. His delivery is latent as if his tongue is still attempting to feel its way around his mouth.
This dreaminess carries the mixtape from start to finish. Every song has a hint of something slightly … off. Not quite all the way there, as if he’s teasing listeners with something in the distance, or perhaps just out of reach of our peripheral vision.
“balcony” lends credence to the theory that perhaps there’s something a bit sinister underlying ’nello’s production. The sample is genius. From Gene Wilder classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, “Pure Imagination” is the moment we’re first introduced to the man’s vast wonderland of treats and tricks. Using a song that’s a wink and smirk at those who believe their shortsighted selfishness will garner them the things they most desire is certainly a clever way to say so much without actually saying much at all.
With quips about how many cigarettes he smokes, the mumbled hum of the deceptively playful melody adds a layer of eeriness to the song’s already twisted composition, shrouding Punchnello’s voice and lyrics about feeling blue in a fog. His use of the ethereal “Pure Imagination” suggests that perhaps what one perceives of him and what one gets are at once disparate but ultimately parts of the same trick coin.
Couple that with a track like “hangover,” in which ’nello proclaims, “I’m drunk and high,” and we get a totally different take on the man’s personality. These lyrics being some of the clearest in the mixtape, there’s still that warbled reality, that warped twist of the guitar in the ear–in vino veritas. The heavy filter placed on that guitar gives the aural illusion of someone drowning in a sea of their own iniquities (this particular sin being a bottle of something powerful enough to keep Punchnello babbling the same declarations of inebriation). As the song rattles to a slurred and drunken halt, one can imagine the drink getting the best of our hapless protagonist, only for him to wake up to a sunrise that both blinds him and alerts him to his mistakes.
“icanthelpyouifyouwontletme” is decidedly brighter than any song on the mixtape to this point. However, the honesty in the title (each word run together as if the previously mentioned “hangover” is still prodding behind his eyes and making everything blur), hints at a man looking back on his life–hell, on the previous night’s exploits. Garbled memory makes him realize he may need help crawling out of that bottle. But as the title suggests, he can’t help himself if he honestly doesn’t want help. A conversation between the man laid out on tousled sheets and his conscience. Until he finally forces himself upright at the banging demand of his psyche.
“openthedoor” is another declaration of a man fed up with drowning. The music is again less muffled, clearer and less of a mess in his mouth. He demands of someone (most likely himself) to “open the door.” Though he’s likely not one to raise his voice, the command is finite. It’s the only line in a song whose composition is the most steadfast on the album. Punchnello is now more in control, more ready to face the world.
Conclusion
In the one minute between the first song and last, Punchnello has taken us on a whirlwind of his more primal (and more heavily uninhibited) self. Between 5:43am and 5:44am, he’s managed to take a warped, mangled, liquor-drenched memory and compose a piece of music that sees him at his most open. All this with a few sparse lyrics thrown in–perhaps to keep at least one foot tethered to the terrestrial while the rest of his body and mind float on a soupy cloud of intoxication.
I have to say, I adore that Punchnello is flexing his lo-fi R&B/hip-hop muscle. It’s really refreshing to find an artist who just wants the music to breathe. He doesn’t intrude upon his compositions, but his presence is very obviously felt throughout. ‘at 5:43am’ is the type of album that you allow to play and just wrap around you. It’s a glorious piece of music: simple yet incredibly intricate, balanced yet varied in composition. Though I can tell this was more of a means for him to experiment a bit with sound and vocal construction, it does the work of re-introducing fans of the young rapper to his ability to craft and mould sounds.
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