Ambitious as hell, larger than life and emotionally vulnerable, Margolnick is the perfect debut album from Margolnick, the artist moniker of songwriter Drake Margolnick. Throughout the album’s ten timeless tracks, Margolnick ventures through peaks and valleys of emotional highs and lows as he explores his own sonic boundaries. The album’s foundation is built by his stunning vocal work, strong bass and keys, and with glitchy electronic elements, cinematic string arrangements and powerful guitar work layered on top, it makes for an incredibly exciting listen.
Opening with the massive track, “Kill My Panic”, Margolnick starts things off with a bang, and from there, he takes you on a stunning journey. Songs like the soulful “Kill My Panic” and “Leave Your Sadness At The Wall” are highlighted perfectly by the empowering “Watch Me” and introspective “Kill My Ego”, already taking listeners through an emotional roller coaster within just the first four songs, and the rest of the album follows suit. The epic summit of the album can be found on its middle track, “Breathe It All In”, which reminds listeners, “Nothing’s forever / we’ve only got tonight / gotta breathe it all in”. From there, it starts to wind down a bit, with the cinematic “American Dream” feeling like something out of a movie score and the Americana-leaning “Sugar Cube City” relying mostly on Margolnick’s basics of powerful vocals and a strong bass line.
Bringing Margolnick to an epic conclusion are the album’s final three songs. The ballad, “Dumb Classic Love” continues to strip Margolnick down to his core, carried by emotional vocals, strings and piano, and it flows perfectly into the following track, “Cool Clear Water.” Another love song, “Cool Clear Water” is carried by beautiful metaphors to describe the way that someone you love makes you feel at ease in lines like, “You’re like cool clear water / You’re like sunshine in my hands”. The song grows and grows until it comes to an explosive end, flowing perfectly into the album’s massive final track, “Won’t Stop Loving You”.
With each song on the album, Margolnick completely defies all expectations and takes listeners on an emotional and sonic journey. The album finds Drake Margolnick going on a soul-searching journey alongside spectacular songwriting and beautiful production. The massive instrumentation serves as a perfect backdrop to his emotional, introspective lyrics that’ll leave fans feeling fulfilled by the end.