On Halloween 2021, singer-songwriter Angelo De Augustine collapsed at home in Los Angeles. He lost control of his body, could not hear, see or move properly, but remained conscious. Despite days of tests, doctors could not diagnose him and sent him home with the advice to return only if he went completely deaf or blind.
De Augustine, who has collaborated with Sufjan Stevens, was determined to finish his album Toil and Trouble. “Nobody was helping and I didn’t think I would survive the illness,” he says. “I couldn’t do basic tasks like lift things, but I’d worked so hard I didn’t want to leave it incomplete. As far as I was concerned, I wanted to get it finished and then thought I was probably gonna die.” The album was released in 2023.
In the three years since his collapse, De Augustine has had to relearn to walk, talk, hear, play and sing. He moved back in with his mother because he could not even make dinner for himself. His experiences have informed his new album, Angel in Plainclothes, which reflects on life’s transience. Songs like ‘Spirit of the Unknown’ and ‘Mirror Mirror’ explore the simple joys he feared losing and the feeling of being a ghost.
De Augustine now believes emerging research points to his central nervous system shutting down due to chronic fear and stress, possibly linked to the pressures of the music industry. He says: “The music industry can be very stressful, just trying to exist. But I never felt I was not cut out for this. It’s all I know how to do.”
