(Salt King) 0>1 by Denni Ian: Review

by Gabe Finch April 5, 2023

April 5, 2023

(Salt King) 0>1 by Denni Ian is a moving and dark poetry recitation backed by a soulful, melancholic piano, strings, and synth that consoles you from the heartbreaking poetry gliding over it, piercing our minds with thought. Ian’s low and deep voice carries you throughout the recitation, telling you a morbid story of a ‘Salt Kind.’ The musical poetry piece stops you on your track at first, then it lulls you into an ominous parallel reality, as though a mermaid is percolating you in a body of salt water.

To really divulge into the dreary realm of (Salt King) 0>1 by Denni Ian, we get to step inside his spoken word poetry and let the piano fold us in a deep embrace. With rambling, open-ended sort of verses, Denni speaks of a “hangman” as his pursuit, as though he is being accused of the crime of living.

The hangman in Ian’s poem doesn’t mind being executed because he wants to “find” a place where he can “black out.” Ian mixes many metaphors and personalizations with the “crow” burying a “sparrow” in its “red woolen coat.” By the next line, we find Ian referring to taking off “from the balcony” as vindication and liberation because the only other solution is becoming a “victim to bad taxidermy.” He directly references the societal pressure to become a clone and be like everyone else, because the minute you don’t, you are criminalized.

The aesthetically produced video of (Salt King) 0>1 is just as gripping as its musical and lyrical composition. So check out Denni Ian’s philosophically symphonic Salt King and stun yourself with the imagery.