SINGLE REVIEW: DENSE – ‘Displaced Face’

This is a beautiful thing,. A track that inhabits your head way past the point it finishes, and quietly, or not so quietly, sits there going ‘play me again, play me again much much much louder’, and you just can’t resist that.

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News of a new DENSE single filled me with a huge amount of happiness, I love what they do, that – and please forgive me – dense and fuzzy thing. ‘Displaced Face’ doesn’t disappoint, it’s full of lovely lovely strange sounds and fuzz to the max with a rhythm that is so fast it almost falls apart, it doesn’t but that risk that it could is part of the thrill…

Add to that those wonderfully distorted vocals they do, and those bits where it all subsides before it revs back up to max, and you’re shaking with excitement by the time the track is barely 30 seconds in.

But, and I implore you to do this, listen more closely and you’ll find there’s an order in the chaos. The way the layers of sound work together. The changes in riff, the changes in guitar sounds, those wonderfully strange sounds that punctuate the track, the space in the more subdued sections. When that all comes together it’s a fuzzy raucous garage-y thing but the elements are really carefully put together.

‘Displaced Face’ reaches out and gradually draws you in the opening, and then once you are fully immersed it explodes people, and it keeps building. Those drums pound away, the guitars blast your ears, those vocals take to some strange place where monsters lurk, where danger is around every corner.

This is a beautiful thing, a fucking beautiful thing. A track that inhabits your head way past the point it finishes, and quietly, or not so quietly, sits there going ‘play me again, play me again much much much louder’, and you just can’t resist that.

The info

Psych-garage 3-piece DENSE have spent the last few months making their way around the North of England, bringing with them the thickest fuzz, intricate riffs and melodies and a raucous and chaotic live show to match.

The band very much ooze the essence of DIY, further evident through the peculiar recording process the group undertook. Each instrument was recorded in a different location, from a small drum studio to a dark and dingy basement in the bottom of a student home, and the tracks surround you in this atmosphere from the first to last second of the record.

DENSE have been very active in recent months, throwing their heavy bag of fuzz in the boot and heading around the country, onto every and any stage possible. Having performed with the likes of UK champions Avalanche Party, LA wizards Prettiest Eyes and French space-heads Slift in various venues across and cities, these young aspiring rockers show no signs of slowing down as they put their foot down, aiming head on into the global garage and psych scenes.

DENSE are

Charlie Fossick – Guitar/Vocals
Dylan Metcalf – Bass
Sam Heffer – Drums

Upcoming dates

25th April – Mabgate Bleach, Leeds

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Frank is the website guy for Local Sound Focus. Takes a lot of photos and loves writing about new music.