DIB Digital – It Is What It Is – Album Review

“It is what it is,” a defeatist and often thoughtlessly recited lament, is proven an unsustainable worldview when songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Ian Brown, aka DIB Digital, provides an album of tenacious, uplifting, and multi-genre musical counterpoint.

Hailing from Edinburgh, Scotland – but seriously well-traveled in pursuit of expanding and perfecting his musical craft – DIB Digital’s It Is What It Is provides a collection of eclectic, genre-hopping songs paired with, and inspired by, the artist’s equally compelling paintings. Ready for DIB Digital’s latest genre-juggling release with liberal and capable dalliances in alternative rock, pop, electronic, and hot-tea-sipping pseudo-jazz lightly soundtracking a lazy afternoon? Let’s take a listen, and hit the highlights.

Wait. Who does what?

Ian writes the songs and plays most of the instruments. His music teacher tackles piano, mixing, mastering, and general production.

And per my previous promise, it’s time to press <PLAY>.

Listening, and talking about it (i.e., hitting those highlights).

It Is What It Is begins with “Feedback,” and it’s vulnerable, almost quaking double-tracked vocals and morning-sun-glinting vibes wrapped in a tonally ominous, syndicated spy drama delivery – it’s slightly paranoid, a little angry, too often personally aggrieved, and incessantly stressed. The chaos boils within, and our protagonist, while simmering in distress, presents his current, sanity-unspooling predicament.

“Solid Ground,” initially conceived at a songwriting camp in Spain and alongside renowned singer/songwriter Callum Beattie, is inspired by Ian’s hometown of Edinburgh. It starts with defining piano chords before transitioning to an acoustic, Beatles-esque, folksy journey song. The energy increases as it wades into indie rock, and an interesting key change leads the chorus to its fading refrain.

“Golden Glow” is blissful ‘80s synth-pop and immediately reminiscent of the Pet Shop Boys; however, per Ian, “‘Golden Glow’ is my attempt at a Harry Styles dance anthem.” And I do hear a bit of Harry Styles, but I have to stick with my initial comparison – the rushing synths, pulsing bass notes, and monotone, almost conversational delivery positively scream PSB.

“Cupboards,” a melody built around its cupboard-exhalting lyrics (see below), is soft synth pulses and a happily naive mysticism concocted about these common, sturdily hung, stuff-ready spaces.

“Cupboards (x 3), full of mystery.
Treasures (x 3), for you and me.
Storing (x 3) our memories.
Making (x 3) our home, you see.”

Interesting? Yes. Catchy? Also yes.

“Class,” described by Ian as “Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rhiannon’ with elements of a Thomas Hardy novel,” is, in fact, aptly described. I hear Fleetwood Mac’s ‘70s-invoked rock mysticism saturated doubly with Thomas Hardy’s lyrical romanticism. And if I concentrate, I can exchange Ian’s voice for Stevie’s, creating a long lost “Mac track” coiled on the cutting room floor after some long-forgotten recording session under the softening, creamy blossom of candlelight.

With “Scotlandia,” the Indonesian word for Scotland (btw), Ian created a new anthem for his beloved homeland – a “gipsy jazz style of song influenced by Django Reinhardt.” And with lamenting then playfully pumped accordion, “Scotlandia” delivers on its promise to express and glorify Scotland’s natural splendor and gregarious, grass-covered spirit. It rolls with rolling hills and runs with each running river. It’s still and introspective – an infinite meadow through which acoustic instruments ring and volley. It’s a love letter written in sound; a musical hug for
something so vast and hill-laden, but soft, cozy, and attentive to the minutia of soulful comforts.

The finale, “It Is What It Is,” is a finger-snapping, hip-shaking, big band bonanza making light of such a deterministic disposition. It’s televised jazz behind lightbulb-strewn podiums, and our singing, intensely smiling pseudo-Buddy Holly delivers each lyric with a playful shoulder shrug and facially dismissive “Oh, well.” It’s a laissez-faire dethroning of responsibility, with a chiding awareness that such an attitude welcomes hardship – it’s a soft breeze of surrender, and a hidden warning for what follows. “It Is What It Is” closes the album perfectly, like a slowly deflating elation or carelessly embracing the urge to simply walk away.

But is it good?

DIB Digital’s It Is What It Is reveals through music an available philosophical workaround, and it does this through dodging categorical commitments and pigeonholed output. It does this through capable genre hopping and strict style avoidance. It embraces stories, makes soft statements, and argues with no ill will. It’s music, it’s playful, and it only bites when cornered. It Is What It Is purports cynical surrender, but remains aware of the options.

So, is it good? To me, yes, because “what it is” is far greater than what it ostensibly should have been. Recommended.

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BELOW: Follow and support DIB Digital on Instagram, and listen to/ download/ purchase his music on YouTube and Spotify. Want to offer more support? Visit his website and sign up for any and all news, updates, and forthcoming releases. And as always, thank you for listening to real music.