South African solo project FiveSidedDice has emerged with a brand new EP titled Kintsugi. It’s quite an ambitious release, which interestingly takes its title from the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold lacquer (Kintsugi literally means golden joinery in Japanese). The album is pretty true to its namesake too, leaning into the concept of beauty through imperfection both lyrically and musically, doing so by piecing together raw, jagged alt-rock guitar arrangements with a series of shimmering melodies.
By Jane Howkins
Kintsugi kicks off in style and with a real sense of urgency on opener, Misery. The song bursts open with a cool guitar solo, launching into a haunting guitar riff that delivers an immediate punk-rock impact. However, the song also has its melodic moments, with a lovely piano tune played in the background at times. The song also change the dynamics up quite a bit, making for a song that is both aggressive and harmonious in sound.
Fear of Heights keeps the tempo and energy running high, showcasing vocalist and songwriter Roscoe Nefdt’s flair for arrangement. The verses are fast, leading into more of a melodious and pretty chorus, before adding a sudden, soothing transition to an acoustic guitar. These dynamic contrasts make the anthemic chorus hit even harder, with Roscoe’s vocals truly soaring here.
Becoming This ups the ante somewhat, seeing Roscoe dive headfirst into the post-hardcore and metal scenes with a great deal of energy. The song is defined by its heavy, distorted riffs, intricate percussive breaks and the warm, atmospheric bassline that runs throughout the tune. Becoming This perfectly captures the project’s raw live-wire spirit, truly channeling a sense of Kintsugi until the subtle ending breakdown, which is pretty darn beautiful.
The Angel Number is actually an instrumental interlude, shifting the mood of the EP away from the punk rock sound of the other songs and into post-rock and progressive rock territory. It’s really atmospheric, using a series of ambient textures to really allow the EP to catch its breath, bridging the gap between the heavy front-half of the EP and the intimate finale perfectly. However, the track does pick up towards the end, once again changing the dynamics up.
Finally, we come to Look Down, which starts out with a lovely acoustic guitar strain. The closing track manages to strip back the noise for a delicate, melancholic finish, introducing a gentle rhythm section that also provides the listener with a deeply emotional and cathartic resolution to the EP. It’s actually pretty beautiful at times, showcasing another side of FiveSidedDice’s music.
Overall, Kintsugi is an honest and emotionally vulnerable body of work that highlights FiveSidedDice’s growth as a songwriter, and it’s extremely likely we’ll be featuring the project’s music again in the future, due to this. Just one listen tells you that this record is a brilliant snapshot of FiveSidedDice’s genre-fluid identity, reminding me a little of Brand New’s changing musical style at times. The mix of genres really works well, showing that Roscoe Nefdt has delivered a brief, punchy EP that is both deeply rewarding and moving to behold.
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