SINGLE REVIEW: Samuel James - Breathe In
Samuel James' 'Breathe In' isn’t just a song—it’s a reckoning. A soundscape that drifts between dreamlike vulnerability and unfiltered chaos, it doesn’t unfold so much as it transforms. Beginning in a mist of ambient textures, the track lulls you into introspection, its delicate but sombre backing vocals amplifying the unease. The vocals are theatrical, haunting, and strangely hypnotic, shifting between soft, introspective murmurs and sinister deliveries that feel both fragile and defiant. There’s a quiet tension to it, a build that never quite gives away where it’s headed.
But 'Breathe In' is, at its core, a battle—one of self-doubt, resistance, and ultimate rebirth. Its genre-bending composition mirrors this internal war. Sparse noise rock collides with ambient swells. Understated hip-hop beats simmer beneath gothic depths, while chamber-pop unease threads through the spaces between breaths—all in the first ninety seconds. Then, as if triggered by an unseen force, the restraint crumbles. The pacing accelerates, and demonic snarls force their way through the haze, dragging the track into something darker, heavier, and untamed. The vocals shift from haunted whispers to feral cries, filled with grit and anguish.
This is where the chaos takes hold. Frantic drums crash against deliberate, plodding riffs, keeping everything in a state of friction. It never lingers in one space for long. Dreamlike sequences melt into haunting echoes before the track lunges forward, guitars ripping into the silence with reckless precision. It’s dynamic, unpredictable, refusing to settle into a single shape. There’s rage here, but also catharsis—a sense of reclaiming something lost.
For anyone who’s ever fought against themselves, 'Breathe In' is more than a sonic journey; it’s a declaration of survival. Samuel James hasn’t simply composed a song. He has sculpted something visceral—an abstract art piece that grips, unsettles, and refuses to let go.
