Denial Waits - Noirbox

Two singles have preceded the inevitable debut of Denial Waits' EP "Noirbox", those being 'Father/Me' and 'My Dark Road'. Both of these songs have brought me tremendous joy the past couple of months; when I premiered the music video for 'Father/Me', I found myself constantly returning to the song during my free time, whilst doing chores, and driving down the road. Needless to say, I was quite excited when Denial Waits announced that they finally managed to collect enough songs together to announce "Noirbox". This six-track EP marks a wonderful threshold for Denial Waits to enter the dark electronic scene with smooth beats, smoky vocals, and wonderful aural pleasures.

'Father/Me' kicks off the album; as stated above, I find this song to be Denial Waits' most powerful track to date. Between the wonderfully harmonic beats that have a dark undertone, to the smoky vocals, Amanda Jay's wondrous chords, and hypnotic presence, I find myself falling in love with it all over again. I would also like to take the time to say that the single, 'My Dark Road', has already been reviewed on the site before. My thoughts remain much the same on it, and you can read them HERE. 



The four new tracks on the EP, then, are very fitting for Denial Waits' design philosophy. 'Down' kicks off this fresh bunch with impressive percussion playfully dancing around piano chords in an experimental trip-hop fashion. Dual vocals are commonplace on the album between Amanda Jay and Ryan Thomas Mitchell; they are lovely and well done. 'One Big Burn', then, takes a dreamy reflection of electronic music before diving into hip-hop lyricism. It's a very chill song that allows the vocals to remain as the strongest aspect. 

'Entwined' sounds like a love-child between a cabaret performance, jazzy influences, and downtempo brilliance. I easily imagined this song taking over a dark club on a rainy night where shifty individuals gathered in either the name of peace and solace from a bottle, or to conduct deals that are best left to private eyes. The final track on the album, 'Tumbleweed', contains dual vocals once more on top of a bouncier beat. Well done all around! 

My favorite thing about debut EPs that are this good is the simple fact that there is no filler in between all the music. It's a straight blast of twenty-plus minutes of phenomenal trip-hop and downtempo beats mixed and fused with various other genres. I won't waste words anymore; the EP is great. Eight out of ten! 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Jul 13 2021