Jobie's Bite-Sized Music Reviews #19: we had good times together, don't forget that (album)

This review contains spoilers that may impact your enjoyment of the album. Recommended

we had good times together, don't forget that is a 2021 atmospheric drum and bass album by electronic music producer Sewerslvt. It is their 6th and final album. The album's themes deal with the suicide of Angel, the artist's girlfriend. The album is already quite sad, melancholic, and occasionally disturbing without this knowledge – with it, these effects grow in magnitude. The album begins with “dissociating”, which itself begins with unnerving, scratchy electronic instrumentals, before shifting into a more ethereal sound about one minute into the track. The track is very “dream-like”, culminating in an orchestral-like climax near the end of the track, which leads into a dissolving, static sound at the very end of the song. This use of texture and sound in order to create a track-specific feel continues throughout the album. The rest of the album dwells on and explores the emotions described in the first paragraph of the review. By far, however, the saddest track on the entire album has to be “her”, which describes (what I can only assume was a dream that the artist had), in which her dead girlfriend briefly appears before her, and then disappears. It is the only track to have lyrics, and they work extremely well on this track – I actually teared up while listening to this track, due to just how emotional it was. It is with this ability to display emotion, with hardly any lyrics at all, that Sewerslvt has proved their musicianship and talent. The only complaint I have about this album is the track “sick, twisted, and demented”. Although the track sounds great, it really doesn't fit on the album, especially towards the end of the album. It's a bit too cheerful to be sandwiched between “die alone” and “her”, but, otherwise, it's a great track. Now, I normally don't call out fellow reviewers on my reviews, since everyone has different opinions and tastes. However, many people have reviewed this album unfairly – at least on RateYourMusic.com. A lot of people there can't seem to separate art from the artist*, and let this taint their enjoyment of the album. AgentKenaki, in particular, wrote a fairly toxic review that seems to have been heavily biased due to their hate of the artist. I ask of all of you – please separate art from the artist, and properly review music! My favorite tracks from the album are “dissociating“, “all the joy in life was gone once you left”, “die alone”, and “her”. Overall, we had good times together, don't forget that is a wonderful, concept-album-like exploration of a very depressing subject. Sewerslvt manages to stir up much emotion on this album, despite the album being nearly wordless. The only real complaint I have with this album is the placement of the song “sick, twisted, and demented”, but it is otherwise a great album.

*Sewerslvt (June) has been the subject of much controversy, apparently. I ignored this for the sake of the review, since music reviews should be about the ART and not the ARTIST. After all, it's not an Artist Review, is it?

Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/album/6Hs9pYq5ionwBpGAp6iqi9?si=lVez6P9zTharkatJLI2scQ

Amazon Music Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HCP1XB2/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp

Apple Music link: https://music.apple.com/us/album/we-had-good-times-together-dont-forget-that/1587901942

Bandicamp link: https://sewerslvt.bandcamp.com/album/we-had-good-times-together-dont-forget-that