Denied Light
Portraits

During the summer season, away from work and daily stress, I feel the need to organize and catalog my entire CD/vinyl collection. Simultaneously, with this almost ritualistic practice, you come across works that have been listened to, analyzed, but not yet fully absorbed.

On one of these occasions, among Low, Spiritualized, and PJ Harvey, to my great surprise, I noticed I had never "listened" to Portraits by Denied Light.

Perhaps what has always stopped me is the fact that the work in question presents itself as a "long" EP if you can call it that. Four tracks for a total of about half an hour of music, half an hour of art drawn, watercolored and disintegrated. These are the adjectives that spontaneously come to mind while listening to Portraits.

Right from the intro "Esc," this becomes evident with sound pedals, noisy and scratchy, in a continuous rising climax toward the second track, F 16. The incursion of the rhythm section begins to sketch the patient yet simultaneously repressed anticipation toward an imminent climax, which arrives with visceral cuts of "electric" guitars. Perhaps the most appropriate term to describe the sound of Denied Light.
Electric like sparks, trapped in a cloudy sky of airy and atmospheric synths; a set of dark colors aligned like a mathematical equation, in the universe of Portraits. But then Sniper Wolf amplifies the emotional and delicate side of this EP, a modern lullaby for young dreamers. Along with f16, it is the second episode where you feel the presence of a glacial and deep voice; appearing as an extension of the music itself, almost a scream of the instruments themselves.

The last track Jacques Cousteau builds over 13 minutes, a suite that manages to synthesize the intentions of the four "electronic" guys. A dance beat worthy of the greatest New Order, seasoned with sounds that wink at the elegance of the 80s wave (Japan, Durutti Column, Everything but the Girl). The suite evolves in the Denied Light style, avant-garde intertwinings between the rhythmic and melodic sections that culminate in continuous emotional and colorful climaxes.

At the end of the listening, however, there remains a bitter taste, Denied Light play but do not strike, the brevity of the work reveals a remarkable sensitivity and a certain desire to develop well-defined and now consolidated canons.
While waiting for an LP, I strongly recommend this metropolitan sketch, worthy of being listened to and experienced in our ritualistic pauses.