There are multiple layers to this album, painting different interpretations for everyone to relate to.
A comforting, refreshing sound is set in motion on the opening track Wound. Often musicians want to play it safe with their introduction and create something that isn’t specific to their music, their album. However here Regan is already foreshadowing sounds and lyrics we haven’t heard yet.
A Poison With An Aftertaste continues to build with the following track I Guess I Don’t Love You, which contains harmonious guitars, syncing with the flexible high notes. It’s a song that could go in many different directions and slip into many different genres depending on the production, with Shayan evidently choosing the heartfelt acoustic sounds that fit the album best. We see an interesting title a little later Traces (Portion Of The Price, evincing a piano sound after hearing a more acoustical melody. The lyrics read like an anecdote, my personal favourite being Blame usually has an echo, the opening line.
When talking about the album as a whole, Regan said “All these songs are interconnected. I wrote a plot of a short story and then realised I wanted to make it into an album.” He then focuses on Before It Breaks – continuation of the piano sound which no doubt takes the lyrical trophy for this album – and Maybe, a marvelous ballad collaboration with Anna Bowden. Shayan explained that it “Zooms into the aftermath of the argument that Before It Breaks talks about.”
Including the most advanced vocals on the album finale is a great way to flaunt your range, and Regan does just this, also structuring his instruments to match the emotions of sorrow and hopelessness. The musician describes Scene Of Crime as “Coated a little but more because it’s part of a trilogy on the album, which is track 5 (Blood Runs), track 1 (Wound) and track 10 (Scene Of Crime). Those are sort of like the pillars of the album……I wanted it to be part fiction part reality, so it’s a real life story stemming from my own experiences and other people’s.” He continues, referencing our feelings upon hearing the album, saying “I want the listening experience to be a little but clouded and open to where the listener wants to take it…that makes you understand and relate to the song.”
You can listen to A Poison With An Aftertaste here: (Don’t forget the deluxe version is out on March the 11th!):