SONG REVIEW 🎵📝 De Salem - Big Wasting
De Salem - Big Wasting
Alternative/Alt. Rock
CH
Overall Impression: There is something immediately intoxicating about Michael De Salem’s Big Wasting. From its opening moments, the track seems to step outside the normal passage of time, replacing the forward momentum of conventional songwriting with something far more fluid and dreamlike. It is less a song that demands to be followed than a sonic environment into which the listener simply disappears. Atmosphere is everything here, and De Salem builds that atmosphere with the patience of someone willing to let a moment breathe rather than rush towards a destination. The expansive character of the track inevitably recalls the widescreen sensibilities of Pink Floyd, but Big Wasting filters that spaciousness through the introspective lens of alternative rock. There is an unmistakable sense of thematic depth beneath the haze: this is music concerned less with telling a neatly defined story than with creating the emotional conditions in which the listener can discover their own. The result is hypnotic. Time seems to stretch and soften, leaving the listener suspended somewhere between memory, thought and feeling.
Strongest Point(s): At the heart of the track is an almost entirely instrumental arrangement, a decision that proves remarkably effective. Rather than filling every available space with words, De Salem allows the music to do the heavy lifting. The sparse vocal material is derived from a single lyric passage — “As a fading flower / Falling into a fine dust / So ghostly emptiness / Falling into a fine dust / Empty empty / So empty / A Big wasting” — which becomes less a conventional verse than another texture within the composition. Its repetition gives the song a mantra-like quality, reinforcing the sense of circularity and emotional suspension. The backing vocals are particularly well judged. Their re-emphasis of “Empty, So, So Empty” at key points feels almost like an echo from somewhere distant, briefly illuminating the emotional centre of the song before allowing it to dissolve back into the surrounding ambience. There is no attempt to over-explain the sentiment. Instead, the words hover within the arrangement, leaving enough ambiguity for the listener to attach their own meaning to that feeling of emptiness, erosion and disappearance. Musically, that landscape is beautifully constructed. Ambiance-infused guitar textures drift through the mix with an almost weightless quality, while the bass and drums provide a hypnotic undercurrent. Pads stretch outward into the distance, giving the track an expansive, cinematic dimension. It is a particularly effective example of texture being used as composition. Individual sounds do not necessarily announce themselves; instead, they contribute to the whole. The arrangement feels less constructed in discrete sections than allowed to evolve organically, giving Big Wasting its free-flowing character. De Salem’s vocal performance complements this approach perfectly. His delivery is almost whispered, fragile enough to feel as though it could disappear into the instrumentation at any moment. The vocals also provide a great sense of contrast against the sonic backdrop. The music feels enormous, yet the human presence at its centre is intimate and vulnerable.
Target Audience Appeal: Lovers of ambiant alt. rock will appreciate what Big Wasting has to offer.
Artist target suggestions: Air, Radiohead, Thom Yorke, David Sylvian, Blonde Redhead, Bjork, Sigur Ros, Martina Topley-Bird, St. Vincent, Slowdive
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About the Reviewer:
Andre is a freelance session guitarist, composer, and sound engineer based in the U.K. Having studied music production and composition at a degree level, he has taken his passion for all things audio-related to a level that has allowed him to become both a competent musician and performer. Being a self-confessed "Guitar Nerd" Andre has been continually studying the guitar as well as teaching it, helping students learn the instrument, develop their songwriting, and become proficient in home recording.
