Mel Denisse - “aiming alone”
Photo by Kate Dearman
Nashville-based artist Mel Denisse casts a cinematic spell with the downtempo single, “aiming alone.”
“aiming alone” is a confident, mature track rooted in late 1990s trip-hop sophistication. It rides the sleek grooves of the Sneaker Pimps, Morcheeba and the luminous gloss of Madonna’s Ray of Light. From start to finish, the production is immaculate, enveloping and steeped in lush melancholic ambiance. Mel Denisse navigates this with grace. “aiming alone” doesn’t lean into the indulgent, lo-fi nostalgia nor Portishead drone-like gloom. This is cinematic, widescreen and emotionally resonant, lingering long after the final note fades.
“aiming alone” draws you in with immersive reverberant drones and warm acoustic guitar, before tenderly drifting into a more sensual and blissed-out space. Almost as if you have entered a half-remembered dream. Floating above understated electronic percussion, the music feels sublimely sparse. Lush pads and stimulating samples evolve and melt seamlessly into one another. Breathing with an intimate, vivid delicacy.
Mel Denisse glides over the instrumentation with breathy, whispered confidence. It is a performance that is reassuring and alluring, fluidly enhancing the songs sense of melody and infusing a vulnerable sense of warmth.
On the track, Mel Denisse adds: “aiming alone details wanting to be understood with urgency, while still feeling sealed off behind glass. On the other side, the world watches and speculates, close enough to see you, never close enough to meet you. That distance becomes the point: the two realities can’t be reconciled. The outro carries that into finality – an acceptance of the lone road, and the resolve of aiming alone."
Lush and serene, “aiming alone” is the third single taken from Mel Denisse’s forthcoming debut EP. Connect with Mel Denisse: Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram