Arising from the angst-ridden silence on the back of a warm melody bound to defrost the iciness implied by the absence of sound only moments before, “The Struggle to Live” doesn’t spend a lot of time building up the tension in the air around us before ushering forth a harmony as powerful as the seasons themselves.
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Ian Bouras has brought in one of the more passionate song structures of his career to date for this strikingly tempo-powered ride, and while the melodic fabric of this song and its companion live video are probably the core elements that will attract you to the piece, it just might be the absence of a groove, the textural presence of the instrumentation (i.e. the guitar parts), and charisma of our leading man himself that makes it hard for you to put down. In total, “The Struggle to Live” is more than a new release for Bouras; it’s a breakdown of how far he’s come from an aesthetical perspective in the time he’s been occupying the indie spotlight.
Even without lyrics here, the emotion in this single is very evident and intricately sewn into the bones of the composition. From the start of “The Struggle to Live,” it’s quite clear that we’re grappling with something drenched in ironic melancholy. There’s plenty of optimism for us to pick up on the visuals of the music video, but beneath the raw cosmetics we’re encountering in this performance exists a black-and-white riptide seemingly intent on ripping us asunder, into the depths of a contemplative – and maybe incredible self-aware – realm of consciousness.
There’s a cerebral component to this material, and it’s enough to make me hungry for an entire album from Bouras before the year concludes. He’s got complete control over every element of sound in this piece, and yet he’s never translating as being domineering over the musical concept at hand. Why? Because this is a player who doesn’t present us with a sound; from where I sit, he instead channels something from deep within that forms the basis for a performance like this one.
Despite his limited visibility in the American mainstream, Ian Bouras has no trouble demonstrating the kind of skillset that should grant him access to scores of audiences in 2023 through the marvelous showcase that is “The Struggle to Live.” While “The Struggle to Live” might not be the only experimental piece of music that you should be listening to this February, it’s undisputedly one of the more captivating instrumentals that I’ve had the pleasure of taking a look at since the start of the winter season just a few months ago.
There’s a simplicity to this performance that doesn’t take a master’s degree in fine arts to completely appreciate, and for those of us who live for something made less complicated by its angularities (which is quite the rare feat in music of any kind these days), it doesn’t get much better than the work Bouras has already turned in throughout his career. A solid addition to any playlist, this track and its video are too original to be skipped over.
Chadwick Easton