Drawing you into its enigmatic darkness laden electronic-pop sound, ‘Venom-Laced Tears’ by London-based artist Antoin Gibson feels like an exquisitely crafted musical puzzle wrapped up in references and metaphors.
Vibrating, roaring at times and thumping and sharp at other times, the synths in the track drive the darkness that the song is dressed in. The instrumentation has a very thrilling, mysterious femme-fatal sound to it which pours out boldness and sure confidence over your senses. The density and textures the song employs solidifies and contains the dark-pop sound and doesn’t let it stray. The density is not stagnant and instead builds and sheds as the song moves through different sections.
Gibson’s vocals – soaring and grounding – are ethereal and carry the weight of the darkness and intensity brilliantly. The key shift in her vocals that comes towards the end comes unprecedented, and blended with the peak in the instrumentation, supremely elevates the song and achieves a moment of ultimate catharsis.
The lyrics are riddled with biblical metaphors which open themselves up to your interpretation. The forbidden fruit, deception that is linked to the serpent and Eve are few of the references in the song. The resultant ideas that emerge are a blend of desire, self-realisation bordering on narcissism, which results in a calculated, strategised control and thereby, a redemption and evolution. The lyrics offer a wild dramatic, theatrical quality to the song – a quality that does not attempt, at any point, any subtlety.
Dramatic, and dripping with a boldness and self-assureness that is hard to not let your mind imbibe, this song is a must listen.