EP Review: Stuck In Daydreams

Konarucchi is a multi-genre solo artist and composer from Wainuiomata. He is talented at mixing and recording, and has many versatile skills he brings to the table. Konarucchi entered the music world at a young age and plays various instruments; most notably guitar, bass, drums and vocals. Furthermore, Konarucchi creates illustrative and captivating stories for many of his music videos. He enjoys and plays video games, finding inspiration from composers such as Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy). Many of Konarucchi’s themes in music surround these creative interests, making it very unique.

The Stuck in Daydreams EP is a musical project of his that has really blossomed and come to life; it’s original and inventive. Each song is thoroughly enjoyable, and has a lot more to its composition than a more simple song structure; it’s progressive, at times dark, soulful, and captivating. I can picture various influences in his sound and his art, but there is definitely something that feels new and innovative. The songs have been rearranged and follow different songwriting styles.

The first track is Inside which shows off Conall’s bellowing and sorrowful voice and progressive rock style of playing on acoustic guitar. He sounds similar to Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance). Her Glow is a beautifully written song with an impressive illustrated music video viewable here (Illustration by Olivia McVey). He really connects with the listener when it comes to his expression and emotion – this video has a really gripping finale. It’s a soft, sweet song vocally with interesting instrumentation and melodies.

Crooked Steps is about the late Chris Cornell, and shows more gentle pitches that Konarucchi experiments with. The fingerpicking is clean and skilful. Track Four, Some Things, is a sadder number with patches of rich falsetto. The groove and accents on the guitar really make the groove in this one. It’s a melancholy narrative and really gets to your emotions. They Follow is a song about our dreams seeping into reality, experiencing delusional thinking, and feeling alone with your thoughts. There’s an illustrated music video that accompanies the song. The piano in this track is thematic and very well composed. The album has Jazz, Rock, Electronic and Metal influence throughout.

The themes in this EP have now also been made into a five level platform game that accompanies the songs.

Stuck in Daydreams is now available to download or stream everywhere.