“Mountaintop music: takeaways from RG43s newest release ”

Paintings Below is the concept album covers created by Reid Gardner.

Reid Gardner, more commonly known as RG43, is a 17-year-old singer/songwriter from Ottawa, Ontario who has started to build a noticeable fan base over the past two years. The artist’s debut release was a single titled “the chase” which was released on April 2nd, 2021. Since the release of the chase, RG has not slowed down one bit and has continued to work hard behind the scenes, releasing two projects within 8 months.

RG43’s newest project “Mountaintop Music” was released on all platforms on March 4th, 2022. The project is an EP featuring 4 unique pieces of music that have been carefully selected for a deeper meaning. “Mountain top music” is a large change sonically from anything the artist has released before and features experimental and genre-bending tracks that have elements of Country, Folk, Alternative R&B, Pop, and Emo rap. The ep starts with the song “summer’s end” which was released as a single on February 18th,

2022 along with a music video as part of the ep rollout. The song details the struggles people face during the cold winter months and the heartbreak of a failed relationship. “Summers end” starts with wind sound effects which signify the changing of seasons and cold weather approaching. The first lyrics are: “Summers end feel the wind as it spins closing in winters coming back again winters coming back again”. Those lyrics allow the listeners to feel the change of the seasons and set the vibe perfectly for the rest of the ep.

The second song on the ep “How many days” is a song about two people that have feelings for each other but a relationship never forms between them. The guy doesn’t want the relationship to get in the way of his career and the girl is waiting for the guy to make a move. This track has a very unique song structure and does not have a repeating chorus which in today’s mainstream music is practically unheard of. With that being said the song could be interpreted as a love letter over drums. The instrumentation in this song is also very unique as it features multiple layers of distorted guitars that take the listener inside the mind of RG and allow the listener feel the emotions RG feels.

The third song on the ep “Freeze” brings the listener to a snowy mountain in the heart of winter. The name of the ep stems from the content matter of this song. Freeze tells the story of a broken relationship where the guy can’t love himself enough for the girl to love him so she eventually leaves. This song covers darker themes of depression and

self-hatred. The lyrics “ Feed me to the wolves let them all be full and free up my soul oul oul oull” really speak to the sad nature of the song. In those lyrics above RG is saying the character would rather see the wolves eat than live because he feels as though he is worth nothing. In the end, He feels as though he is a burden to everyone and begs for the girl to leave him despite knowing that she is the only one that can save him.

The last song on the ep “20 seconds/match” is the only song on the ep to not feature drums. The song has a very slow guitar that is paired with soothing soothing vocals to create the perfect outro. The song starts with the character saying he wants love even if he knows it’s fake and has a very sad undertone. The song continues in this manner until the beat switches.

In the second half of the song “match”, the character seems to be enlightened and comes to the conclusion that he can love himself and the girl he was hurt over is in the past. This is a much more positive RG than seen previously on the tape and lets the listener see the light at the end of the tunnel. This half of the song wraps the project up wonderfully and leaves the listener feeling happy and hopeful for the future.

All in all, this is a very impressive work from an artist so young and displays a great amount of progress from RG’s first project “INDEX”. I’m very excited to hear what this young man comes up with next as I feel as though his creativity and dedication to the craft will take him to new places never heard before and his love for music will continue to be reflected in his work and bring a positive energy to the world.