Given Names – Razor Wire
Given Names – Razor Wire (2015)
Directed by: Given Names
Given Names is the electronic rock duo of branding and design creatives David Raymond (Hidden Hospitals, Damiera) & Jeremy Perez-Cruz (The Still Voice, Sleeping Girl Drowning). Their debut EP1, will be out digitallySeptember 8. Using all the tools of design and production at their disposal David and Jeremy strive to keep their brands on cutting edge. With Given Names they take their years of experience in art, design, and music to craft austere, yet complex and rich, dark electro pop for fans of Massive Attack & Radiohead. Recorded alongside remix artist and producer Villain Lighting (Bleachers), EP1 is four songs of unsettling, hook-laden melodies poised to scratch your cognitive itch.
The album begins with “Folded Lungs,” which forms a foundation for what will come. Dark soundscapes pierced by glades of light illuminate a somber lyricism, highlighting themes of suffocation, deception and entanglement. EP1 is anchored by the icy guitar and analog synths of “Razor Wire,” a haunting and raw testament to the elusory and tangible entrapments in our lives. Vocalist David Raymond delicately pleads “I didn’t know / The violence in my efforts / The razor wires cutting through me” over spider-web thin guitar and piano and an electronic drum beat. There’s an shift in tempo on “Blood Secrets,” with a syncopated drum pattern and a claim that “You know blood secrets / Thick as honey.” It’s an oddly uplifting song despite a heap of unsettling elements. “Parade Lights” closes out the album with organic guitar picking giving way to cascades of synths. It’s another master course in contrasts, emphasizing a stark and haunting sound experiment that glimmers with inspiration and sentiment.
