Deptford Goth – Songs
Deptford Goth – Songs (2014)
Directed by: Aneil Karia and Daniel Woolhouse
Following a break up, what’s better for the damaged psyche? Listening to loud, brash music about having good times with your friends and not giving a fuck about the opposite sex (e.g Andrew WK)? Or is it better to listen endlessly to crackly old mix tapes your partner made for you, followed by hours of contemplative acoustic albums about how life alone is worse than death? If you believe in crying yourself into a self-pitying stupor then Deptford Goth’s latest album Songs could be the soundtrack to your breakup! That might not sound like such a good endorsement, but this album can actually be listened to by people not recently singled, and it’s still exceptional.
Producer and singer Daniel Woolhouse manages a delicately composed piece of minimal electronica, as emotionally intense as a documentary about the bunny genocide of ’76, but thankfully far more uplifting. The serenity of the instrumentals belies the albums’ dark subject matter, which center around the chasm of worry and self-doubt that come with lasting relationships. The piano keys twinkle like stars in a black sky, providing some of the most uplifting moments in Songs. In fact, the intimacy and surreal filter through which the entire album is released gives Songs a dream-like quality, as if you were witnessing it between sleep and waking. With his 2013 debut Life After Defo, Woolhouse proved his unique ability to patch together a richly textured collage of sounds to woo your brain into a state of sweet submission. Now he is sculpting a signature sound, packaging the sporadic instrumentals and sedate vocals into a distinct bundle.
