With a rhythm of one album every year since 2021, Denuit has been squatting on our playlists on a regular basis and is never far away. 2024 has been strangerly quiet on their side with no release, but don't panic: the duo from Montpellier are back with LOVE violence, a new collection of electro-goth anthems to sob on the dancefloor. Ivi Topp and Lis Araignée present it as a journey through the different facets of love, be it beautiful, painful or anything in between.
The beautiful, the painful and above all the in-between that mixes opposing emotions with poetry, Denuit know what they're talking about. Lis Araignée's theatrical lamentations recall the spectres of the great gothic queens, while the synthetic music borrows from different eras. Remnants of post-punk and EBM, darksynth tones a la Perturbator, more in-your-face beats like a ghostly version of Sexy Sushi... Denuit gets you dancing in all sorts of ways.
The laments of wounded HEART, the sobs of a soul in pain, carry you away between a catchy melody and catchy rhythms. Denuit is made for waddling around in the half-light of a haunted house, an abandoned dance floor or between the graves of a forgotten cemetery. Its spooky theremin-like effects are both melancholy and full of cheerful autumnal spooky vibes.
While Denuit's musical seance resurrects a few 80s memories and incorporates them into more modern music, we appreciate the personality that radiates from the tracks. As well as the moody mixes and the often-right balance between introspection and sad revelry (Banshee, bleeding LOVE or the more despairing Cyanure), this singular voice embodies lyrics that oscillate between French and English. Far from being nihilistic and despondent, Denuit unite like a dark lighthouse attracting lost moths: CHAOS is a rallying hymn, an ode to the unexpected and to wandering at the top of your list. Romanticism, again, and a proud claim: let's embrace our “weirdness”!
There's a lot to like about LOVE violence. Quite simply, it's a lot of fun, it shakes things up, the horrific and gothic atmospheres hit the spot. And then there's that grace, that proudly brandished banner, a tribute to the clueless and the differences. In the end, Denuit's approach offers a broad, generous definition of humanity, one that shrugs off petty details to include even ghosts in their romantic celebration. And if ever the typographical choices of writing certain words in lower case and others in upper case leaves you perplexed, then we'll just make the choice to understand that for them love will always be greater than violence. Here's an album that's as appealing as it is endearing: these two have not finished moving your little black hearts while shaking your tushies.
