For those unfamiliar with the electronic artist known as Animalweapon, it comes from the mind of Patrick Cortes. On this sprawling, eight-song album called Set of Constraints, the artist tackles heavy lyrical themes like struggles with mental health, anxiety, as well as making personal connections to the material to ensure the balance is just right. Cortes shared this about the new record: “A lot of this record is a marker of a transitional period of my life. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my last record Tyrannosaurus was very much a representation of a pretty low stretch, mental health wise. A lot of this album was me acknowledging that I can mitigate that if I actually put in the work, and starting to. I still write music with enough room for interpretation so that people can connect it to whatever they’re feeling, but ideally I hope it resonates with anyone who is working on themselves or ‘in the cocoon’ so to speak.” Set Of Constraints seems like an odd title, as Animalweapon’s musical journey appears to be limitless.
The record kicks off with the moody “Check Engine Light,” that sets the tone for the rest of the material that follows. It features a blend of well thought out beats mixed with breathy vocals from Cortes that lend themselves well to the electronic-tinged atmosphere laid out. “DST (Wreath)” follows as an instrumental interlude that sets up the next track in the album’s sequencing. “After All” ends up being where Animalweapon gets most of their core footing on the atmospheric approach to the band’s songwriting. What Cortes does best on songs like this is to allow for the beats and electronica elements to help guide the listener out of the darkest moments found in the lyrics.
”August” is another interlude track that features some different complexities to the artist’s approach to songwriting, and prepares the audience for another vocal-based song on “Summer’s Over.” Cortes ponders the intricate headspace of wondering how much time has passed without meaning, as he continues to try different musical landscapes to complement the lyrical material. The album’s best song appears on “Deserve,” which makes sense as a lead single, as it encompasses everything that this artist does best into a single song. Closing out with the title track and a bit of reprise in “Summer’s Over (Coda)” makes for a worthy next step in the songwriter’s repertoire.
While I didn’t connect with this album as much as I was hoping to, the set of songs are all very well-constructed and thought out as they weave a tangled web in tying the songs to each other. This record would have benefited from a little bit more variety in vocal cadences and different tempos, but for those fans who are looking for vibe-y electronic-based music, Animalweapon has a lot to offer in that department.