Album Review: Free Throw Ask You To “Bear Your Mind”
Free Throw comes onto the scene with a sweet emo-pop sound that counters the synth and sugar we have grown accustomed. With instrumentals and vocals led on by pure sentimentality, their record, Bear Your Mind, should, actually, be called Bear Your Heart And Soul. Not too many like to go deep and raw in their music style, but even less can make such an endeavor sound smooth like Free Throw.
The fluidity of Free Throw lies in Cory Castro’s kind, vulnerable vocals. From “Open Window” to “Victory Road”, he knows how to maneuver his voice according the fragilities he contains and the force he desires. Castro has always been open that he sings to and from his insecurities, of which we all have. Body, spirit, and emotional issues plague every human being, at least once, and Bear Your Mind is about how those instances impede us from choosing better for ourselves. Whether it be to decide for happiness in a potential relationship (“Hope Spot”) or choose to love yourself even when flawed (“Better Have Burn Heal”),Castro beautifully ranges the feeling of being conquerable. We all can be so scared of our weakness that we do not even approach the idea of our strength, which is both a natural and irrational human response that nearly every Free Throw songs lyrical approaches to an extent. “Rinse. Repeat”, “Weak Tables”, and “Weight On My Chest” are just a few examples of their clarifying verses on being unclear. Somehow, misery routines itself in people to the point where it makes them feel less like persons, and Bear Your Mind, is Castro/ Free Throw’s testament to ending misery’s plots.
Instrumentally, Bear Your Mind plants its sonics into the ground of people’s hearts. It is pure soil and turmoil with each chord flowing like a seed learning how to sprout despite the dirt that both feeds and buries it. The symbolism does not fall flat in bridging that our insecurities both stop and start how we frame ourselves. Hence, rhythmically, there are edged “punk-rocks’ rolling through drum rolls and keys especially in “Dead Reckoning”. Yet, despite perfectly crafted arrangements, it is the words and vocals Castro that constructs Free Throw’s foundation for success. For More Information On Free Throw And To Bear Your Mind Click Here.
