Self-reservation cascaded away when igor stridently proclaimed, “The rumors are true – I just went insane”, in the opening lyric of his latest strident and evocatively raw single, My Own Way.
If people still held their lighters in the air, there are few better calls for an inferno of flame than this reclamation of the 00s alt-rock sound. After a short and sweet prelude, which could easily have given way to a Springsteen anthem, pop-punk signatures sink their teeth into the anthemic production that takes you on a cataclysmic ride through a confessional vignette of how much we give away to meet the expectations of someone that was inching away from us the entire time.
With guitar hooks as viscerally sharp as My Chemical Romance’s under igor’s engrossingly distinctive vocal lines, which refuse to forego authenticity for assimilation, My Own Way is a testament to the Ukraine-born, Russia-raised, NY-residing singer-songwriter and his determination to wear his heart on his sleeve.
While earworms that delve deep into scarred psyches to expose the commonalities of agony are a rarity, igor achieved all of that and more in the symbiosis of rhythmic ferocity and tender vulnerability in My Own Way.
My Own Way was officially released on December 1st; stream it on Spotify.
Review by Amelia Vandergast