It’s 2018 and the world is an absolute shit show, but a simple song still has the ability to stop us in our tracks. “Gone”, the new single from Los Angeles project NIGHTS, surfaces today (June 8) from a host of different inspirational places and eras, but hugs the listener with such a familiar warmth, we can’t help but feel an instant connection.
Much of that has to do with the way “Gone” soars from the speakers — an intrepid mix of modern polish and songwriting smarts aided the the reckless ambition of ’90s guitar-rock grit. The track features Marshall Gallagher of Vanyaland faves Teenage Wrist, and it’s a bold declaration, bursting with emphatic emotion, from NIGHTS’ Mel Denisse.
“For 10 years I’ve searched for likeminded people who could catch the world I wanted to create musically,” Denisse tells us. “This is the first song where I feel like that’s happened. A lot of my influences are late ’90s, early 2000s alt-rock with big sound wrapped in dreamy shoegaze aspects. Marshall was able to track some guitar parts that definitely added another layer of that to the song, which was so special to have.”
Gallagher’s grungy, weathered guitarlines are just one of the layers of intrigue on “Gone,” a composition Denisse says was inspired, lyrically, of a sense of detachment from others.
“[It] was written in about 10 minutes — both melody and lyrics,” she adds. “I was sitting in my downtown apartment in LA when I heard the melody in my head and it’s rare when it happens like that. The meaning took longer for me to process. It’s about the tension of feeling gone from those around you (in an emotional, mental sense) because of who [and] what you’re holding out for. You can’t convince yourself into a connection with anyone — romantically, intellectually, etc. — which is a mystery entirely on how that works. So, it was a lot of bottled up frustration in the different kind of goodbyes I had to initiate.”
This ode to goodbye is one dramatic way of NIGHTS saying hello. As we prep for the song’s video to arrive in July and a full EP planned for the fall, swan dive into the blissful depths of “Gone” below.