Friends are people who are there for much more than a good time. They’re confidants and closest allies. The best of the best know you well enough to recognize when you’re in trouble. However, you may need to weed out the invasive ones who have crept their way into your inner circle. Los Angeles-based artist Bradley Denniston has released “Red Lights,” a hyper, electro pop-punk tune about falling in with the wrong crowd and being too blinded by the glamour to see how dingy the scene really is.
When you think about a superficial scene, Hollywood would most likely spring to mind. Coincidentally enough, Denniston is an Oscar and Emmy nominated music producer and engineer, who has worked on titles such as “The Lego Movie” and “Thor: Ragnarok” among others. Much like the movies on the screen, the foundation of “Red Lights” is about not falling for the trap of make believe. Substance be damned, these two-dimensional “friends” are flimsy facsimiles of what a real friend should be.
To represent the high strung atmosphere of a raging party, Denniston has crafted a sprinting, pop-punk inspired sound with electro attitude. It pumps up the adrenaline, but not in a happy fun time way. It’s an intensifying bout of twirling mania that leaves you staggering towards the door. It’s the growing claustrophobia of being in an inescapable mass of humanity that robs you of your autonomy.
“Red Lights” is about losing yourself to the high of the scene and ignoring its shallow depths. Being part of the crowd can mean losing your identity to the conglomerate of trend hunting, attention seekers. In a little over two minutes of breakneck pop-punk intensity, Denniston whips up the epitome of what it is to be swept up in a dizzying party culture.
Written by Travis Boyer
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