Review: Dylan Macklem EP

Written by: Savanah Ruiz

Hi, everybody! For all of you who have gone to the Vans Warped Tour before, you know that part of the tour is meeting bands and artists while you wait to get in, and sometimes you come across one artist (or two… or three) with music that you can’t help but buy. That was the case with me and Dylan Macklem, a solo artist who is currently on Warped Tour with Youth In Revolt. His EP, which consists of five songs, features some great lyrics, lovely vocals, and amazing acoustic work, and I’ve completely fallen in love with it. Overall, if you’re into acoustic bands like This Wild Life, or just want to try something new, I have a feeling you’ll enjoy this EP. You can find his music on dylanmacklem.bandcamp.com.

Track by Track:

1. Special- This song is probably my favorite song from this EP due to its amazing chorus and awesome lyrics in general. This song talks about one sided love, which I think everyone can relate to, and does so in such a light hearted way that you probably wouldn’t be able to tell it was a sad song if you were just listening to it mindlessly. I really like the varying notes, and the only bad criticism I have is that I don’t like the “I lost you” at the end.
2. Pick Your Poison- This is another great song, and features amazing lyrics, some of my favorites being “your heart is safe with me as long as mine is safe with you” and “you haven’t lost me yet”. I love the guitar work in this song (and throughout the entire album), and I especially love the outro because it surprised me when I first listened to it (and I love surprises haha).
3. No Sleep- To me this song talks about being different from someone, and having them not appreciate you. I find this song very beautiful, and like the vocals in it a lot. Overall, this song isn’t my favorite, but it’s still an amazing song in my opinion.
4. Fire- This song is a song that I find myself listening to quite a bit since it gets stuck in my head very often. I absolutely love the lyrics, along with the beat and the guitar work. This is yet another beautiful song and one that I just can’t get enough of. I kind of wish I had some form of criticism, but I have nothing bad to say about this song.
5. Forever Ending (Special Part 2)- This song is very interesting to me because I’ve never seen the sequel to a song on the same cd as the first part, and I also haven’t heard a song seguel as good as this one! This song is a great end to the EP, and also does a great job of making a new song with the same theme of Special. Overall, it’s great song and great end to the album.