Duke Crewneck - Assess the Damage
Chicago based, Duke Crewneck has been able to release an album called “Assess the Damage,” showing us all of him.
When coming across this body of work, I was in shock!
With this work, we get the vulnerable side of Duke and how his life was throughout the year and all the trials and tribulations he had to conquer.
With the track opening up with the song “Broken,” it gives a great depiction of how we should anticipate the whole tape to sound with his guitar licks that spread through the speakers you feel the pain put into making it. Duke did most of the album production, except for a few artists helping out (Blake Saint David and Zachariah Zoske). With that, I would love to say moving on to the track “Anxiety” with the feature of Blake Saint David. He made his waves and dropped an album on August 20, 2020, “Be your Own Shooter.” They both showed out and brought out their versatility with a catchy beat and synths sounds and 808 patterns that sound like the type of song to drive down LSD at midnight. As I go through the album, I noticed that Duke has grown more as an artist and made sure to be experimental while also getting his point across. AS I was moving along through the album, I caught a lot from “Spare Change” that speaks on Duke struggling and prospering with his problems with drugs and overcoming the fight within himself. The last track on the album “I’m Doing Fine” brings a solemn vibe, but the lyrics give hope and triumph that speak on one transforming and becoming more remarkable than what they thought.
Going through this album, “Assess the Damage” is something that should hear. It gives us human beings' complexities and how flawed we are but, knowing that we are much greater than our past and can walk out of darkness shining brighter than ever. Duke Crewneck decided to test the limits and succeeded in my eyes.