Ken Tran has just released one of the most intriguing musical projects of the year – Out of Camo – a thirteen-track album of spoken word poetry, written and performed by US military veterans.
Its minimalist song titles are enough to spark instant curiosity: “Adrift,” “Purpose,” “Remorse Code,” “Memory” and “Silence,” all painting a haunting picture of life within the ranks. But once we dive into the album, something completely unexpected emerges.
Bright and bittersweet lo-fi beats and piano ballads come topped with voices spilling their hidden truths. Raw, vivid honesty takes centre-stage through each lyrical recollection; poignant imagery lingers like the sting of nettles long after each song’s final silence, Ken Tran’s atmospheres so compelling and utterly absorbing that listeners almost feel they’re becoming a part of the scenery, a figure haunting each story, praying he and his fellow poets pull through.
Title track “Out of Camo” transforms ‘left-right’ marching orders into a chorus which hints at PTSD. Mac Woods’ “Black Under Fire” takes a hip hop twist with a heart-wrenching edge. Erika Renee Land’s “The Veteran” reveals the horrors of dissociation, opening with the lines, “Sometimes when I wake up, I don’t know who I am. And I ask myself, ‘Is there anybody in there?’ Sometimes the only side of me that answers is the part of me built by the army.”
However, Out of Camo isn’t hinged on trauma and melancholy. It’s a gateway to healing, acceptance and understanding as its poets trace their hardest experiences, rediscover their true selves and fight for the chance to come to terms with the devastation they’ve seen. As the album’s title hints, this is their chance to step out of the camouflage, spill their secrets, and finally leave their days in uniform behind.
As if the record couldn’t get any more conceptual, Ken Tran even includes organic snippets of the Washington D.C. peace demonstration held in April of this year, which was attended by over 120 US military veterans.
Out of Camo has already stolen the crown as the #1 Spoken Word album in the USA on both iTunes and Apple Music for multiple weeks running. All proceeds for Ken Tran’s Out of Camo are being donated to the charities Veterans for Peace, Wounded Warrior and About Face.
Our final verdict? Highly Recommended.
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