“Dead End” is a song stripped down to its very essence, a dark, understated ballad that understands that, whilst the cliche that less is more is undoubtedly true, it is the selection of exactly the right pieces of less that is where the art lies.
Antoin Gibson gives us a song built as much on atmosphere as anything more solid, which, along with a quiet anticipation, is allowed to percolate up through the spaces that have been deliberately left to elicit just such an effect.
And so, as the piano merely lightly sketches out the song, joined occasionally with weightier sonics when it needs to force the point home, as the gorgeous, melancholy voice captures the heart, it is as much those moments between one lyrical pause and the next line, those pauses as one note fades out and the next is ushered in, which makes the song what it is. And what it is is more than the sum of its parts. Much more.
That “Dead End” avoids convention, both in lyrical meter and sonic structure, is also deliberate, a metaphor itself for the themes of mirroring and neurological overload that run through the lyrics, making for a beautiful yet slightly fractured experience, a deep and thought-provoking experience.
As I said, less is more; we all know that. But who knew that this much less could be so much more? Well, Antoin Gibson, for one!
Discover more from Dancing About Architecture
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
