Album Review: Dent May Takes Millennials “Across The Universe”

In these times, it is easy wish life was a video game, virtual reality, or some type of easier, more colorful version of itself. A life where, with a few buttons, you could, actually, do what you want and drop-kick your problems away sounds like a dream. Hence, Dent May’s Across The Universe is a Millennial exposition on how a generation wishes to feel good as much as it wants to look good, as well.

Millennials can get a bad rep as “image obsessed”, which is not wrong, but the notion can be used to strip away the humanity of youth. Dent May feels like the titular Millennial; trying to find the right home for himself beyond the misunderstandings and misconceptions that plagued the other places he once called “home”. The Mississippi native moved to LA, where he could wear tuxedos at supermarkets, clear his head with avocado toast, and write songs that blend the digital age with a spiritual one. The new space, both mentally and locationally, allowed Dent May to create Across The Universe; where every verse, bridge and chorus is boosted by instrumentals that feel like a pixelated ride down a cosmic suburbia. Each star is a condo and each light year is an electric car zooming down a series of “homes” Dent May vocally passes to find where he should park. Dent May has a voice that feels like synth-wave. It simply drops into sound with an added ease, and seemingly flares as your ears touch its vocal keys. He sounds so tranquil as he zooms and zips through 80’s inspired sonics/ Millennial based lyrics such as in, “Don’t Let Them In” and “Hello Cruel World”. Like an Instagram feed, he scrolls through pictures/ songs of “better lives”, to wonder how, when, and why he does not get better.

Tracks like, “Face Down in the Gutter of Your Love”, “I’m Gonna Live Forever Until I’m Dead, and “Dream 4 Me” are dedicated to Dent May’s personal search to find reality amongst our Instagram- laden world. From love to happiness, it is hard to decipher the images of these virtues from their genuine manifestations, when I can smile in a bikini for a picture but then putt the phone down and cry at the beach immediately after. This may sound humorous, but there is a sadness to how eagerly we wish to capture a good look of ourselves in hopes that it will lead to an actual, better version, as well. It is in this point that Dent May shines as a lyricist, who knows how to make pain/love as visible as a social media post and as touchable as the phone you used to share it. He is so clear and transparent as a lyricist that it throws you off how warm and friendly his electro-instrumentals can be. When you think of being “raw” and vulnerable, you think sad and dark. Yet, in this world, our words can say “ I’m hurting”, but we make sure to look good while we utter them. Thus, the juxtaposition of bright sonics with hearty verses is brilliant, and makes Dent May’s Across The Universe one to get on August 18 By Clicking Here. Moreover, see his September 8 show at Baby’s All Right!