“Satellite”
The French band Deleo will be releasing their newest single, “Satellite,” on June 10, but I have had the privilege of listening to it and seeing the video a bit early. Deleo was initially founded in 2018 by Denis Navarro, but after some line up changes and the COVID-19 pandemic, the band was given the opportunity to look inwards and work on their sound. In September 2021, they returned to the spotlight with a new line up and the found their niche in alternative rock, post-punk and dance pop. They are planning on releasing their next album, The Best is Yet to Be, in October 2022. The band consists of Emilie Clément as the lead vocalist, Navarro on guitar, and Felicien Bousquet on bass. The trio worked with Producer Phillippe Uminski on this record.
The track opens with Clément’s smooth vocals layered over a low level of distortion. For the first thirty or so seconds, there is only a quiet guitar playing backing chords and a simple beat keeping time. After that, Navarro hits the listener with a bassy guitar line that drives the intensity up before adding a techno beat. Throughout the track, something about the way Navarro and Bousquet play is reminiscent of late 1990’s alternative rock. The guitar lines are thick and heavy, but not overly distorted. Uminski does a great job blending this 90’s feel with modern electronic beats, making for an interesting overall feel to the track. The bridge even has a key change that transforms the overall tone to something hopeful before returning to angst, which brought me back to the pop tracks heard on the radio years ago.
Lyrically, the song paints the picture of a woman that can’t escape her past, and is consumed by her memories. Clément’s delivery sounds like pleading, and it drives home that she is losing her mind as she struggles to move on.
The accompanying video is just aesthetically wild. All of the shots are in black and white, but with flashes of bright red and teal. The band can be seen playing the song in a dark room, cast in heavy shadows. Throughout, clips are interspersed displaying different facets of humanity such as a woman smoking, people walking through a museum, Pong, and bugs. The techno beats are joined by distorted graphics of human faces and pixelated images and the colours are thrown in via TV static. The video is artistically unsettling, but sticks with the theme of a woman trapped in her own mind.
I’m definitely intrigued to see what the rest of their album will show, so be sure to give them a follow to come along for the ride.
