Memory and Fate Intertwine in David Kushner’s '20 Years From Now'
With his intricate tapestry of ghostly melodies and soul-stirring lyrical introspection, David Kushner sings his heart out in 20 Years From Now, a record that feels like a love letter from the future. Melancholic yet uplifting, this compilation of tracks can also be interpreted as a warning to love deeply but to love carefully.
"Love Worth Saving" opens 20 Years From Now and immediately immerses listeners in a sea of beautiful sorrow, anchored solely by Kushner’s tremendous, sonorous vocals. A young artist willing to bare his soul, he sings with a passion worth its weight in gold. As acoustic guitar strums tiptoe around subtle falsettos, the emotion conveyed is profoundly human, felt as deeply as a subterranean quake.
"Breathe In, Breathe Out" is oxygen-like in its uplifting quality yet pensive in tone, carrying a message of hope amid what remains. "Keep all of your clothes on / I'll let you in / Staring through your soul like it never ends / I feel it in my bones that you're heaven-sent / We daydream about what we never said," sings Kushner. He serenades a memory, with rooted piano chords amplifying its emotional impact.
From the bridge to the chorus, "Ends With You" rumbles with Kushner’s reflections on love, seemingly that of his parents, and the profound effect of their struggles and turbulence on a child, a young man. He drinks from the nectar of memory, healing wounds through the simple reflection of what was and what may never be again.
"I Wanna Get to Heaven" is rhythmic, fervent, and anthemic, bubbling with sound and chorus as elegantly as an exquisite champagne glass-catching soft light. "Beautiful Things Don’t Ask for Attention" carries a tinge of ‘70s class, something that would have fit right at home on The Midnight Special. "Empty Bench" is an ode to loneliness, while "Safe in My Arms" serves as a starry-bright finale, divine in its essence.
Kushner, who could easily be called his generation’s Hozier, brings his own soulful style to Gen Z and beyond. He does so with authenticity and a genuine belief in the power of people to grow, to forgive, and to remember. Not as we wished them or it to be, but as they truly existed and exist.
Is 20 Years From Now a glimpse ahead or a question posed long ago? Perhaps the latter. Who would the person forged through the tornadoes of love, hate, regret, and desire have become, had something gone differently? Had the wind blown another way? But everything happened as it had to, and so it must be sung, and must be remembered with faithful passion and respect. And Kushner delivers it.
Listen to 20 Years From Now below:
