Nath Tavares hones in on corporate life, burnout, and self-discovery on her expansive debut album See Attachment
An artist who’s sound feels like an ambitious and immersive bridge between borders and genres, Nath Tavares is somebody who has quickly been establishing herself as somebody with a completely distinctive style and appeal, with her debut album See Attachment proving to be a body of work that is packed full of unique, quirky charm, mountains of personality, and a fun, captivating ride that spans a wide range of emotions and different facets of her sound throughout.
The album as a whole explores the plight of a woman who has been broken down and completely disenfranchised by corporate life and the rules and expectations that we’re expected to live by when we occupy these spaces. The playful opener and title track ‘See Attachment’ utilises thoughtful Latin guitars and horns to add some flavour to a track that explores the mundanity of searching for corporate work and the relatable feeling of being rejected. The spoken sections and little quirks throughout the track really allow her personality to shine through and add another layer of depth to her allure.
The artist tackles her issues with society and the expectation that if we play by all the rules and do all the right things then everything will fall into place on the instantly hooky ‘Fooled!’, a track that takes on a more in your face, hip-hop-tinged sound that is characterised by its beats and Nath’s uncompromising lyrics and delivery. This offers a stark contrast to tracks like ‘All on Me’, a ballad that delves into the artist’s dreams and aspirations, unfolding in poignant fashion as she truly wears her heart on her sleeve and feels the weight of everything around her.
The self-deprecating nature of ‘Message from the Universe’ makes for a moment of levity, with the artist showing some self-awareness in the form of imagining that the world is mocking her for what it perceives to be very minor and manageable issues when people are going through much worse, in glorious, autotuned fashion. This is immediately followed by some more Latin fusion that sparks things back to life in ‘Clutter’, a bouncy, bilingual track that feels like chaos brought to life in musical form, in all the best ways.
While built around these ideas of anti-corporate angst and a disdain for the systems in the world around us, what the album really feels like is a portrait of somebody trying to find their place amongst it all, with all of the uncertainty and vulnerability that comes alongside it. The confessional and at times, conversational nature of ‘Might As Well’ makes for a track that reinforces this, with the artist exploring the urges that she has had to minimise herself in order to blend in and go unnoticed, trying to break free from these ideas and be able to be confident enough to put herself out there and know that she tried, even if it doesn’t work out, with this album and her recent output as an emerging artist already showing that she has taken that initial leap.
The hooky and dancey ‘Bubbly But Bubblin’’ is a track that feels straight-forward and empowering before taking an unexpected stylistic turn halfway through to turn into something that feels more likely to be heard in the West End than in a nightclub, and the catchier and more light-hearted aspects of the track bleed into ‘Big Booty Workout’, a track that explores some of the themes like ambition and growth that the album explores but in the more literal sense of being at the gym and doing it that way.
The themes of the album are surmised on its closer, the aptly titled ‘Key Takeaways’, a track that has some really fun sonic touches to it as the artist concedes that everybody is on their own journey, and that you essentially have to figure your own shit out. It does a really nice and succinct job of tying a bow on an album that explores a lot of themes like self-discovery, loathing, working hard, hating it, and taking a step back to evaluate what you actually want from your life. All of these emotions and the wide net of ideas that the artist uses to convey them makes for a truly cathartic and memorable listening experience, and one that the artist will be able to look back on, no matter where her journey takes her, and know that she held nothing back when it came to putting her vision and ideas out there.
