STOMACH BOOK is a criminally underrated trans and gay artist that specializes in heavy rock with heavy emotion, and released her debut album in October of 2021. This album consists of some new and old songs, characterized by loud, angry vocals, vigorous percussions, and the distinctly angry energy of a generation of trans youth. Her music has a certain bravery to tackle the deepest and darkest reaches of her emotions, and for this valor I find her music to be especially compelling and empathetic.
It's extremely hard for me to pick a favorite from this album, as I have an extreme fondness of all of the songs, but I think purely for its effect on my mentality I would choose all you can hope for now are the scars to show for it!!! . The encouragement present in this song's lyrics provides a stark but needed contrast from the rest of the album, and its placement as the last song is cathartic in nature - after an album of tragedy, anger with the world and those that have mistreated you, and grappling with the impacts of ostracization, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. And yet, STOMACH BOOK does not simply do away with the pain - it's acknowledged as still very present and inhibiting and excrutiating. It might always be there, but you can still be happy and contented with it. You can find a way to carry on. I think it's beautiful that such an uplifting song can be so well placed and executed in an album built on emotional turmoil.
I feel the need to stress that I have nothing against this song. It's very emotionally compelling and has a good place in the album, but personally I don't find myself listening to this one as much as the other songs in the album. It's somewhat repetitive and has a comparatively much slower tempo, yet still contains the same loud nature as the rest of the album, making it feel much more unsettling - while this is certainly the intention of the song and it executes it well, it isn't for me specifically. I absolutely respect the song in this right for showing STOMACH BOOK's strengths in music creation and evoking specific emotions through her work. Definitely not one to be skipped when listening to the album.