Celine Hakimianpour, staff writer
“Perfect Imperfection” is the debut album of 31-year-old artist Sean Forbes. When first approaching this album it was thrilling to listen to the story of a deaf man overcoming his obstacle to achieve his dreams after constantly being put down. Forbes lost his sense of hearing at the age of one due to spinal meningitis, but he never let his love for music disappear, unfortunately.
Growing up Forbes was always told that his career in music was a dead-end. He now uses those voices as motivation to inspire the deaf and hard of hearing community. One would think having such disabilities would produce a motley of dissimilar tunes that were original and pleasant. However, not even the slightest of high expectations were met while listening to his songs.
After listening to all 14 songs on the debut album, the mind can’t help but ask, “Why don’t I enjoy this at all?” To listen to these songs again would be considered cruel punishment.
The album’s opener, “We interrupt this Program,” is for the most part catchy. Nevertheless, that is the only thing that somewhat captures the listener’s attention. The lyrics were superficial and definitely not gasp worthy.
“I’m Deaf” appears to be Forbes’s most popular track, but by no surprise, it was arid and basic. It resembles a mixture of sounds of various non-harmonic instruments put together, perhaps when a teenager was experimenting with GarageBand on his or her MacBook. It was nothing special, and if compared to a dish served in a restaurant, it needed a lot more spice.
Another track on the album, “Chill Out Man (Interlude),” is way too dull to even be considered as music. Being spoiled by Justin Timberlake’s fantastic interludes and preludes on “LoveSounds/FutureSex” makes everything else inferior. Sorry Forbes.
“Let’s Mambo” is an absolute joke. From trying to catch the traditional mambo beat to trying to put the emotions of the mambo in words, it’s just utterly terrible.
To wrap it up, the album sounds like something put together by a 12-year-old in their bedroom after a long, hot summer day of being forced into babysitting their younger sibling’s lemonade stand.
Even though Forbes failed musically, his ambition and bravery are inspiring.