After a critically acclaimed extended play, “Foreword,” Tokyo-based artist Sarina unleashes “Break Out!,” another excellent EP release consisting of seven marvelous compositions that will immediately appeal to all those listeners looking for cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed music. Heavily promoted with “Skip A Beat” and “Living In The Moment,” two impressive tracks adorned with melody, energy, and power, Sarina rapidly paves her way to the top of the global music scene. Lyrically, Sarina explores her innermost thoughts and emotions, so “Break Out!” is a comprehensive collection of relatable songs that will immediately resonate with the broader auditorium. Soundwise, she combines several different but complementary music genres to illustrate rich and luxurious sonic imagery. Perhaps pop-punk comes to mind first, but you’ll also notice how some other sonic ingredients borrowed from skater rock, indie rock, alternative, and emo found their way into this sonic equation. Of course, she uses all these additional elements as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift her music to new heights while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. Therefore, these experimentations with different but complementary music genres resulted in an amalgam of catchy, engaging, memorable tracks suitable for even the pickiest pop-punk fans and beyond.
Sarina strikes with “Living A Moment,” an introductory piece that showcases all her ideas, musicianship, skills, talent, and experience. It’s one of those songs that grabs you by the collar and refuses to let go long after it ends. Of course, her soulful sincere, confident, powerful vocal performance is the first thing you’ll notice. These vocal harmonies serve as a centerpiece, emphasizing all the segments and instrumentations while providing emotional depth and complexity to an already intricate song structure. In the meantime, the interplay between rhythm and lead guitar shapes such a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. You’ll notice how tastefully assembled, flawlessly performed, heavily distorted chord progressions and riffs resonate on one side while the other shines with many catchy, memorable, ethereal leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, and other sonic maneuvers. It’s nearly mindblowing how Sarina’s voice perfectly matches with guitars, making this track such a pleasant listening experience. “Skip A Beat” continues in the same manner, with expertly arranged, marvelously performed, well-accentuated, dynamic beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics keeping the remainder of the orchestrations in line. Besides propelling all these instrumentations to new heights, these rhythmic patterns provide groove and pace. You’ll also hear how equally complex, vividly hearable, warm-sounding basslines rumble beneath the guitar works, offering more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth to those orchestrations while binding everything together. If the guitars serve as a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon, then the rhythm section acts as a backbone. Like “Living In A Moment,” this song also carries many themes, melodies, harmonies, and leads delivered on both guitars, while Sarina’s fascinating voice conveys a meaningful message.
Sarina slows down the pace a little bit with “Don’t Want To Break Your <3,” a calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal love ballad where her voice shines from scratch to finish. It’s nearly mindblowing how these vocal harmonies seamlessly balance low, mid, and high notes, supporting semi-acoustic chord progression and minimal beats. Her vocal performance is unquestionably in the spotlight here, emphasizing everything she tried to achieve with this song. “Artist With An E” brings back that relentless energy, dynamics, and power Sarina’s sound is known for. She balances aggression and melody with such precision and finesse, proving once again that she’s a skillful vocalist who knows how to deliver emotion without losing consistency. This track also carries another comprehensive collection of wisely arranged chord progressions and riffs, decorated with catchy melodies and themes, while the rhythm section brings that necessary punch and depth that defines most of Sarina’s songs. The drumming is completely insane, carrying all the groove, dynamics, and power without overwhelming the melodic core. “Artist With An E” exemplifies Sarina’s songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing skills, as every vocal, sonic, and rhythmic maneuver has its place and purpose. Once again, “Hold Me” demonstrates her ability to deliver mesmerizing sonic landscapes, where every vocal harmony resonates with sincerity and confidence. The instrumentations sound divine, with all those beautiful chord progressions, string instrumentations, and synth ambiances building such a colossal, reverby, otherwordly sound. She excluded the rhythm section here, so “Hold Me” has that cinematic ambient quality that immediately grabs your attention. It’s a powerful, meaningful, beautiful ballad that will appeal to even the pickiest music enthusiasts.
“Why I Am So Sad?” is one of those compositions where Sarina continuously levitates between the energy of pop-punk music and soft, mellow, ear-appealing indie melodies. This contrast appeals to her vocal performance, as she navigates emotion throughout the entire number effortlessly. This track has such a catchy chorus where she delivers another barrage of incredible vocal harmonies, supported by the carefully implemented back vocals and singalongs. She paid so much attention to the vocal arrangements on the entire EP, but this track stands out as a sheer example of how pop-punk vocal arrangements should sound. The guitars are less distorted, so the main focus is on melody and harmony, and you’ll undoubtedly hear everything Sarina tried to incorporate into this song. You’ll also notice how those intricate and heavy-sounding low-ends dominate, bringing warmness to the guitars while the entire specter of marvelously performed beats, breaks, and fills elevates everything to the max. This exceptional EP closes with “I Know Nothing,” another beautiful indie song where Sarina brings more acoustic instrumentations and vocal harmonies upfront. You’ll hear how the ukulele dominates the most, but there are also some guitar works included along the way, helping out in shaping such an otherwise worldly atmosphere. It’s a perfect closing track of such an incredible EP.
“Break Out!” is a pop-punk masterpiece you should immediately place on your music radar. Sarina invested heart and soul while writing, composing, arranging, and producing this material, proving she’s one of the most creative singer-songwriters on contemporary pop-punk and indie rock scenes. Her experience, skills, talent, ideas, and musicianship shine through every vocal, sonic, and rhythmic maneuver, demonstrating her creative genius through seven soulful, catchy, memorable, and engaging tracks. There is no doubt “Break Out!” will become your go-to whenever you need cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed pop-punk music. The EP is available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!
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