โDead Endโ by Antoin Gibson trembles at the edges of the dark. London-based artist Antoin Gibson releases the single under Circum-Sลnus, continuing a cinematic, avant-garde dark-pop world built around sound design, emotional starkness, and conceptual intention. This one feels especially bare-boned, though, stripped right back to piano and voice, letting space, silence, and fragility do the heavy lifting.
The song opens with a slow piano gently playing, and the singerโs voice comes in breathy, touching hums. The singer sings breathily, as her wet breaths can be heard in every single word and line, as she sings mournfully and sorrowfully. Then her voice soars with deeper piano notes. Her vulnerability is worn on her sleeve. Her voice gets more anguished as she sings. The pacing never rushes. Lines stretch and then fall away, like language itself is tired of holding shape. The minimalism makes every tone feel heavier. You can almost hear the room the recording exists in โ thatโs how close it feels.
Thereโs something stark about the way the voice and piano refuse to resolve into anything glossy or pop-clean. It mirrors exhaustion rather than disguising it. And just when it feels like the song might crack open further, it instead softens again, back into breath and shadow. She sings her final lines breathily, as if her fire is almost being burnt out.
She sings, โThe cycle continues, the options are running out/Itโs time I accept its end/Will the winds blow again carrying roses that for a moment I experience hope?/But in this moment all I wish for is deadโs end, because I can no longer cope.โ
And just like that, the track closes unresolved, leaving the echo of vulnerability hanging in the air.
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Review by: Naomi Joan