DENSE are a psych-garage trio hailing from Leeds who are all about DIY music and chaotic live shows. They have spent the last few months making their way around the North of England and have performed alongside a host of bands including Avalanche Party, Prettiest Eyes and Slift. The band is comprised of Charlie Fossick on guitar/vocals, Dylan Metcalf on bass and Sam Heffer on drums and are days away from releasing a brand new single and gave us an exclusive look at the track! We caught up with them to find out all about it…
You’re releasing your new single, ‘Displaced Face’, on the 15th of March. What can you tell our readers about it?
DENSE: We’ve had a few tracks flying around online the past year but we are considering this as our first big single as a band, and are really excited for everyone to hear it. It’s definitely one of our favourite songs to play live and hopefully that comes across in the recording. We would like to mention and shout out the illustrator for the single artwork Elle Penketh who did an amazing job that perfectly captured our feelings for the tune.
Can you tell us more about how the track was recorded?
DENSE: The process was an interesting one because each instrument was recorded in a different place. We managed to get into a studio for a few hours to get the drums recorded, and the bass, guitar and vocals were recorded in Charlie’s dingy Hyde Park basement, which suited the atmosphere of the track really well and we hope people can almost feel that coming through. The mix and master was done by our friend Edd Wilding of Thee MVPs, and we couldn’t recommend his work highly enough based on what he did for ‘Displaced Face’.
For those who haven’t seen you live before, what can they expect?
DENSE: We pride ourselves on our live performance and really try and give our audience everything in our shows. We love playing our songs and we want people to feel that, injecting high levels of energy into our set. Expect thick fuzz, intricate riffs and some questionable faces pulled. We occasionally like to join the crowd on the floor at times too!
Have you got any plans for this year that you can let us into?
DENSE: Once we get this single out we are planning to release it’s paired follow-up single which we recorded last week . We are hoping to be able to share that in May with more long term plans of getting an EP out by the end of the year, but we will see how the year goes. In terms of gigging, we are extremely excited to be heading out on tour with Cannibal Animal from Hull at the end of April. They are an incredible band and we are really lucky to be traveling around the North with them.
What is the inspiration behind ‘Displaced Face’?
DENSE: Musically, the single represents a step forward for us and our sound to a more complex writing structure, especially in a non-traditional time signature. We like to take influences from various bands on our scene but still want our sound to remain unique, and this has been our main inspiration for the track.
Overall, how would you describe the song and, in particular, it’s lyrics?
DENSE: In terms of instrumentation we feel the song is very eclectic with spacious synthy lulls created by the Eventide Pitchfactor pedal Charlie uses on his guitar at the start and later into the song which then turns 180 into manic, explosive delay-infused fuzz and there’s even some Kraut-inspired parts.
Charlie: In terms of lyrics, I like to use a stream-of-consciousness technique to write lyrics whereby I don’t think of a theme in mind and just use whatever first comes to mind right when listening to the instrumental. I suppose what came out was a haiku-esque short story.
The WonderWhy is a lyrics-based blog and you have been kind enough to give us an exclusive look at the lyrics for your latest track, so I hope you don’t mind if we ask you a few questions about some of our highlights! Can you tell us more about the first verse of the song and the meaning behind it?
“Face changing shape,
Time goes by,
Seconds too slow.”
Charlie: This section is an introduction to the character of the song encountering a being which changes face constantly and as it decides the face to present, the character feels like time is going by too slowly in anticipation to what will eventually be presented.
A standout section of the song for me is the following:
“You’re feeling scared,
You’re filled with hate,
But in my place,
You see the face.”
What was the inspiration behind this?
Charlie: In the chorus of the song the being has settled on a face and it is sung from the perspective of the being. The face the being has presented has caused the character to feel scared and hateful, implying that the face is familiar but attached to negative emotions.
My favourite verse in the song has got to be:
“Inside you crumble, Drown inside, Seconds at pace.”
Can you tell us more about this section in particular?
Charlie: During this verse the face that has been presented has taken a more intense effect on the character causing him to feel like he’s crumbling and drowning within himself, but now time has felt like it goes by faster due to being wrapped up in these emotions.
We know that this track is going to do really well because it’s brilliant and we want to say thanks for taking the time to answer some of our questions! Finally, where can people go to listen to the track once it’s released?
DENSE: Thank you very much and thank you for interviewing us! You can find ‘Displaced Face’ on all major streaming services, Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp etc.
Social Media:
www.facebook.com/denseband
www.instagram.com/denseband