Local Review: RVLE THE WORLD — DISHEARTENING

RVLE THE WORLD
DISHEARTENING
Self-Released
Street: 02.08.2025
RVLE THE WORLD = Mesita + luciansei + Planning For Burial

Strip a 22-year-old man of his defenses, put him in a recording studio for one night and if you’re lucky, the result may just be something along the lines of RVLE THE WORLD’s album, DISHEARTENING. Brothers JJ Dressler (vocalist, lyricist) and Levi Dressler (guitarist, producer) must have grown up with a nakedness that allowed them to feel their experiences more deeply than many people. Luckily, these young men turned this vulnerability into a sound that can be empathized with during such a turbulent time of life. RVLE THE WORLD does not romanticize their reality in order to create a sound that would be more broadly “accepted.” Their music lacks the over-exaggerated introspection we so often see from modern artists, and for this I am grateful. 

DISHEARTENING was the first album JJ and Levi released, which is a very bold first release. The rawness of each song is not something that a lot of listeners may be able to comfortably navigate, yet they do not let that alter their sound. These two men are not making music purely to build an audience; they are looking for nothing but a platform to work through whatever it was that inspired these songs. The duo seems to be more focused on releasing music than booking shows, which is not something we often see in the Salt Lake City scene, but again it illustrates the authenticity of their work and their drive to create. 

The album contains 13 songs, and whether this was intentional or not, I think it is fitting given that 13 is the number of transformation. Each song is an expression of how one’s feelings transform, morph and hopefully evolve. The first 10 songs on the album were recorded in one night’s session, completely freestyle, and were left unaltered. Even with the fact that both brothers have been making music since the age of 16, this is pretty impressive.

I feel the songs are meant to be listened to in the order of how they appear on the album. A lot of the lyrics run from track to track, creating a sense that none of the songs ever really end, the same way our emotions only transform. The undying energy that makes up every natural aspect of the world can be found within these songs. Levi’s work on the guitar carries a consistent sound throughout the whole album, with fluctuations that accentuate the buildup of emotions that inevitably overflow and result in JJ’s intensified vocals. I do think that if you are going to scream about your life, it is best to do it into a microphone with a guitar backing you.

The songs on the album range from 41 seconds to 7 minutes and 38 seconds. This variation exemplifies the way certain emotions consume us longer than others. A couple of the songs include a guitar strum that builds up like suspense in a horror movie before the jump scare, and maybe that is exactly what they are going for. The track “I HATE YOU” includes a repeated line “I miss you” followed by intense heavy breathing. On first listen, I was reminded of the archetypal voicemail left by a heartbroken boyfriend leading into a panic attack on the bathroom floor, something a lot of us have most likely been on one side of. The evolution of anger to sadness to desperation to defeat is perfectly embodied through JJ’s vocals. 

RVLE THE WORLD reimagines the five stages of grief with this album. The emotions within this album are not all pretty, but they are honest. Each track is littered with emotions that we have all felt but not always expressed. So props to these young men for choosing music production over therapy and giving the world a taste of their unrefined emotion. —Jaia French

Read more reviews of music by local artists:
Local Review: Beatnik — Life Sucks…Then You Dance
Local Review: frick. — Clock Out

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