Seeing In The Dark: A Listen To Nightwalk From Death By Piano

In these strange times, some characters seek solace in finding uplifting ditties and colourful optimism. Others prefer a shadowy, candid approach to stimulate thought and allow brooding. The NYC Noir scene is a ideal example of this where Death by Piano, Kalen (vox, synths) and producer/instrumentalist Greywolf, make their way around the vivacious city, stopping off at Rough Trade, to share their Darkwave outpourings and sensual beats. As part of their 2020 trio of tracks, they bequeath upon us the last arm and song Nightwalk on October 23rd.

The recent single follows previous songs Emergency and Newer Light. Emergency is a bewitching synthy-electro duet, where the writing eludes to that unexplainable feeling of doom before a heavy storm, opening with the poetically honest line of, “I can hear your heartbeat pounding through the sheets. Sirens, an emergency tearing through my dreams.” As the band says, 

"Nightwalk is sort of an answer to ‘Emergency’. Before things are about to blow, it’s an effort to air our grievances. A vesper turned midnight dance tune. An effort to get to Newer Light by dawn and put the past to sleep…”

Commencing as a slow, stimulating ballad, twinkling synths and the female and male voice share the floor until the tempo quickens adding an air of necessity, coated with a funkier disco beat, not letting go of the shade and never merry electronica as such. The song decreases one more to stress the key point: “I left the pain behind me, buried in the sea. Moving towards a new land, knowing what should be.” The writing and production immersed in Death By Piano’s style, and guidance to all for a brighter future.

Article by Beverley Knight