Powfu Releases First Studio EP: “poems of the past”
- DM, Executive and Editor
- Jun 5, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 6, 2020
On Friday, May 28th, 2020, Powfu released his first EP under Colombia Records. The Extended Play comes after the release of 3 sings. On February 8th, Powfu (real name Isaiah Faber) rereleased his Billboard hot 100 hit, “Death bed (Coffee for Your Head)” featuring Beabadoobee. “I’m used to it” was released on April 17th along with its music video. Finally, on May 12th, Faber released “ill come back to you” which features his friends Sarcastic Sounds and Rxseboy. The project was most likely recorded over Powfu's trip to New York when he posted pictures to his instagram with pictures of him and friends Rxseboy and Jomie, both of which appear on tracks of the EP. In total, seven artists make appearances on the EP, with Rxseboy and Beabadoobe recurring on two tracks. Here is a complete list of the songs and the artists featuring on them:
"Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head)" feat. Beabadoobe
"im used to it"
"ill come back for you" feat. Sarcastic Sounds & Rxseboy
"a world of chaos" feat. Rxeboy, Jomie, & Ivri
"popular girl, typical boy" feat. Sleep.ing
"Death Bed -bonus remix" feat. Beabadoobe & Blink 182
Six tracks appear on the EP, half of which were previously released. "Poems of The Past" opens with "Death Bed (Coffee for Your Head)", The age of this song as well as it being recorded pre-record deal, doesn't effect its place on the EP, but actually solidifies the projects presence. Compared to some of his other tracks and even other tracks on the EP, the quality is very high.
The second track, "im used to it" is a great second track and is one of the stronger tracks on the project. It's also the only track on the album that doesn't feature another artist, and proves that Powfu can write a good song without the need of other artists singing with him.
Track three, "ill come back for you" is probably the strongest song production wise on the EP. The clever beat and catchy lyrics make the song almost irresistible to sing along to. This might be one of the best songs on the project.
The forth track, "a world of chaos" is a huge difference from the previous track, as the pruduction quality takes a serious turn. The intro is a weird guitar melody mixed with with the hard to hear female vocals does not fit and sounds very amiture. Although this was intentional, it was very hard from hearing a very well developed "ill come back for you" to an odd "a world of chaos". The strongsuite of the song is in the writting and Powfu's bridge at the end.
"popular girl, typical boy", the fifth track, is a very vulnerable, and clam song. The artwork of the EP fits the mood of the song incredible well. The relatable and extremely compelling lyrics bring out the best of the song. Sleep.ing's feature on the verse although misfitting, gives a great second view of the world displayed in the song. Despite the intensional low quality sound of the song, it is very well put together.
Finally, "death bed - bonus track", is a strong but unnecessary outro. Once again, Beabadoobee's timeless chorus mixed with Powfu's vocals returns like the original. However, Blink 182 shakes up the song and gives a different opinion of what's happening. The punk sound of Mark Hoppus has a harsh contrast to the rest of the song. Powfu's pop/hip-hop sound is very different than Mark Hoppus' unique voice.
Over all the EP is good, but Powfu definately has room to improve. The EP lacks inconsistency, only one song on the entire project is just Powfu, alone, speaking his truth. Powfu mostly recruited his friends to work on the project, and while they were a very important part of his past, they may not be as important to his future. And that is a major reason for the inconsistency. If some songs had fewer or no features they probably could have had more potential. I hoped that this project would help develope the 21 year olds sound and help him find who he is as an artist. This doesn't seem to be important on the EP. We are mostly supposed to focus on the nostalgia of looking back at the past while looking at the future we ourselves have created, and along the way, he does grow, and begins to develop something, that with time, could blossom into something great. I cannot wait to see what this young star does next.
(all song titles are styled in lower case font and a mistake was not made)
Thanks for reading this weeks edition of Behind The Record, if you have a song or album you think we should cover, email us at unknownskullrecords@gmail.com or DM us on Instagram! Make sure you come back often to see what’s new in the world of music.
Links:
Behind the Record powered by Unknown Skull Records Season 1: Article 4. Thanks for Checking out this weeks music review! Check out our website here if you haven’t already!
"poems of the past" art gallery
Unknown Skull Records
Comments