"I sincerely hope you can prove me wrong / Everybody needs an avatar that they can rely on / We sacrifice each other to our gods / I’m getting out / You’re one of us..."
Last count I have listened to "The Burning Handle" by Geographer, the musical moniker of Mike Deni's American synth pop / indie rock band, exactly 63 times since it was presented to me. This is not a joke, not an exaggeration. There maybe something wrong with me (in fact I know there is) but deeply emotional, oftentimes incredibly dour, artistically woven melancholy music is an addiction of mine. AND it is not like sad songs make me feel better, sometimes they crush me to the core but the understanding that other people hurt in the same way I do is ultimately cathartic, is quietly hopeful. Maybe hopeful is actually the wrong word but I can't think of a better one at this time.
It makes sense that "The Burning Handle" punches me in the gut and hugs me at the same time. It makes sense that Geographer sows seeds of pain. From press notes:
[The project began when, in 2007, Deni relocated to San Francisco from New Jersey, after living with the aftermath of the sudden and tragic death of his sister, and then the equally unexpected death of his father a year later. While sleeping on the floor of his friends’ apartment in the Haight, Deni found a synthesizer on the street, and began to channel both his grief and his optimism into the songs that would become Innocent Ghosts. This theme would continue through all his music, which pits intense and emotionally probing lyrics with momentous and soaring arrangements, often featuring electric cello. The Animal Shapes EP put Geographer on the map and launched his career. Since then, Geographer has headlined many national tours, played Outside Lands, Firefly, and other festivals, released two critically acclaimed albums, and performed with such musical luminaries as K.Flay, The Flaming Lips, Young The Giant, Tycho, Ratatat, Betty Who, and Tokyo Police Club.]
The loss of loved ones has a way of shaping you into who you're supposed to be. Some people fight it, some people go with it and some just stay numb. I literally crushed on "The Burning Handle" after the first downbeat. The stomping acoustic piano, freewheeling shuffling drum beat, the frantic alien percussions, the textured bass lines that feel synth like but might not be all pull the breath out of you. When Deni's vocal countenance hits me, I was stunned. Truly great singers who carry their own unique walk are hard to find but this guy has got it, an artful voice that not only carries his emotional weight but grips it tightly. Love his lows and high registers equally and how his bottom toned croon vibrato moves you and I love the surprising melodies he pushes his evocative lyrics onto.
"I’ve been drinking your eyes
Like holy water
Holy water I’ve been spreading your lies
Like a lamb to slaughter
A lamb to slaughter
Faith isn’t blind
It’s been playing you the whole time
I sincerely hope this is all my fault
A beggar with a thousand faces and a lost cause
We tied our horses to each other’s plans
To seek our fortune in a foreign land"
It makes sense that "The Burning Handle" punches me in the gut and hugs me at the same time. It makes sense that Geographer sows seeds of pain. From press notes:
[The project began when, in 2007, Deni relocated to San Francisco from New Jersey, after living with the aftermath of the sudden and tragic death of his sister, and then the equally unexpected death of his father a year later. While sleeping on the floor of his friends’ apartment in the Haight, Deni found a synthesizer on the street, and began to channel both his grief and his optimism into the songs that would become Innocent Ghosts. This theme would continue through all his music, which pits intense and emotionally probing lyrics with momentous and soaring arrangements, often featuring electric cello. The Animal Shapes EP put Geographer on the map and launched his career. Since then, Geographer has headlined many national tours, played Outside Lands, Firefly, and other festivals, released two critically acclaimed albums, and performed with such musical luminaries as K.Flay, The Flaming Lips, Young The Giant, Tycho, Ratatat, Betty Who, and Tokyo Police Club.]
The loss of loved ones has a way of shaping you into who you're supposed to be. Some people fight it, some people go with it and some just stay numb. I literally crushed on "The Burning Handle" after the first downbeat. The stomping acoustic piano, freewheeling shuffling drum beat, the frantic alien percussions, the textured bass lines that feel synth like but might not be all pull the breath out of you. When Deni's vocal countenance hits me, I was stunned. Truly great singers who carry their own unique walk are hard to find but this guy has got it, an artful voice that not only carries his emotional weight but grips it tightly. Love his lows and high registers equally and how his bottom toned croon vibrato moves you and I love the surprising melodies he pushes his evocative lyrics onto.
"I’ve been drinking your eyes
Like holy water
Holy water I’ve been spreading your lies
Like a lamb to slaughter
A lamb to slaughter
Faith isn’t blind
It’s been playing you the whole time
I sincerely hope this is all my fault
A beggar with a thousand faces and a lost cause
We tied our horses to each other’s plans
To seek our fortune in a foreign land"
Of "The Burning Handle" Deni shares:
“Everyone talks about their dreams coming true, but they so rarely do, and that’s when I like to remind them that hey, nightmares are dreams too. The song explores how dreams get crystallized in the first place, and the often catastrophic phase change that occurs when they come in contact with real life. I wrote the chorus in NJ on the piano I grew up playing in my mother’s living room. I had watched La La Land on the plane ride over and it decimated me, I wept openly next to a 5 year old.”
It's nice to know that I am not the only full grown man who weeps openly after absorbing moving stories told by others. "The Burning Handle" is the first track from an EP of the same name.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://twitter.com/geographermusic
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5vvvgOwPjA4R5t07ZXLLwZ
https://www.youtube.com/c/geographermusic/about
https://www.instagram.com/geographermusic/
https://www.geographermusic.com/
Geographer is the moniker for Mike Deni’s American synth pop/indie rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 2007, Deni has described his sound as being “soulful music from outer space” using analog, electronic, and acoustic elements to craft dense layers and unique sound textures.
The project began when, in 2007, Deni relocated to San Francisco from New Jersey, after living with the aftermath of the sudden and tragic death of his sister, and then the equally unexpected death of his father a year later. While sleeping on the floor of his friends’ apartment in the Haight, Deni found a synthesizer on the street, and began to channel both his grief and his optimism into the songs that would become Innocent Ghosts. This theme would continue through all his music, which pits intense and emotionally probing lyrics with momentous and soaring arrangements, often featuring electric cello. The Animal Shapes EP put Geographer on the map and launched his career. Since then, Geographer has headlined many national tours, played Outside Lands, Firefly, and other festivals, released two critically acclaimed albums, and performed with such musical luminaries as K.Flay, The Flaming Lips, Young The Giant, Tycho, Ratatat, Betty Who, and Tokyo Police Club.
In April of 2018, Deni gave up his apartment in San Francisco, and spent the next 6 months without a home, hopping between tours and friends’ couches, and spending a significant amount of time in his hometown, before eventually moving to Los Angeles in September of 2018. During that time of shiftlessness, in limbo between his old and new life, Deni wrote the songs that would become his EP, New Jersey. Many of the songs began where he grew up, and were finished in Los Angeles at his friend’s house while he was looking for an apartment.
Following the release of ‘New Jersey’, Geographer remained active, releasing a slew of singles throughout the rest of the year. Now he is back with a new full-length album, Down and Out in the Garden of Earthly Delights set for release in 2021. The odyssey of the album explores the pleasures and pains of life while testing the depths of the human condition.
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