03 Aug 2018 // A review by River Tucker
Musician Dean Young has been writing and producing some fantastic music over the last couple of decades. His latest musical work released under the name Built, comes in the form of a stonkingly good 6 track EP entitled Here’s To Sweet Sabotage.

Kicking things off is Save Yourself, utilising some topical messaging about our addiction to the digital age. A crisp dynamic mix and good use of guitar overlays makes this track stand out for all the right reasons.

Thankfully Dean hasn’t foregone his Kiwi accent like many other post modernist rock singers from New Zealand. As a result, his vocal delivery effectively portrays a lot of conviction right across this release but especially on title track, Here’s To Sweet Sabotage. Excellent drum accents plus a pared back middle eight are just a couple of the highly effective techniques used on this monumental track.

Sure to entrance Built’s target audience, Non Believer encapsulates a longing and clarity that is enhanced by extensive build-ups and laid-back tempo. This belies some aggressive messaging that is all the more powerful because of its measured delivery.

Also disconcerting in a good way is the more progressive Start Again, with its triplet guitar riff against a slow and powerful 4/4 tempo creating an airy, almost horror movie-like vibe. It’s amazing just how much emotion is crammed into the catchy chorus line here.

Cooling things down a bit, the more melodic Gone is one of the most heartfelt songs to be released so far this year. Refined use of effects that don’t detract from the core musicality of Dean’s vocal and playing style, plus his ability to perfectly structure his songs, is where the strength of this release resides.

Last but not least Fingers In The Fire swaps nicely between lighter and darker moments. It’s a bit of a culmination of all of the musical techniques previously on display and is a good way to close out a great EP.

There’s an underlying commercial quality to this release that is enhanced by its alternative edginess and religious sentiment. Song dynamics, the instruments and the tracks themselves flow together and compositionally this release cannot be faulted.

★★★★ (4 stars)


_{Review written by River Tucker}

Dean Young, musician, producer. Whose day job is a now 25-year-and-counting radio career - which at one point saw him fronting breakfast radio shows around New Zealand on Radio Hauraki along with The Rock, and nowadays behind the scenes.

He has also been writing/performing and producing his own music since 1998, swapping out the band-of-actual-humans option in favour of a solitary studio project where he took care of everything from the writing to production.

It was a Tauranga home studio where this journey began with the project breathingunderwater yielding the EP Aquatic Ceremony in 1999, the full length Horizonchrist in 2000 and the EP Prayers to Broken Stones in 2001.

Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Built

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