Denver alternative pop band, Modern Suspects have been making waves in the Denver music scene the past couple of years, releasing inescapable earworm after earworm but today, they may have made one of their biggest splashes yet. Today the band released the incredible visuals for their newest single, “Desufnoc,” and the best part — the clip was entirely filmed on an iPhone X. The video, interweaving various scenes through situational vignettes, is a mindboggling journey — a series of opening doors revealing the closing doors of grief and contemplation in the collateral damage of profound loss. “Desufnoc” a dark song at its core, revolves around the death of frontman Garret Myers’ friend, who when delivering supplies to remote areas in Alaska via plane in 2017, crashed, ending his life far too soon. For Myers, the song encapsulates the lingering questions and confusion in the wake of the aftermath and the following emotional wreckage.
The five-minute video follows a young woman into an audio-visual gallery, where the art hanging on the walls become scenes of people reeling from the tragic news in real time. Various depictions of grief take form over the course of the video — A woman in a coffee shop reacting over coffee, a man checking his phone after sex in the early hours, Myers standing heartbroken in the graveyard, all culminating into Myers begging to know if the listener “knows what they’re living for.” The clip is a brilliant convergence of separate lives meeting in the middle to grieve a life they were all part of.
Modern Suspects have shared stages with the likes of Miike Snow and Bob Moses and hit stages ranging from Broomfield’s 1stbank Center to a headlining performance last year at the Bluebird Theatre, steadily emerging as one of Denver’s most promising bands. The new video and single follow the previously released “Worth It” and excellent 2017 EP, II, and sees the band doubling down on their promising pop tendencies, and alt-rock ethos but broadening their sonic palette in the process. With the undoubtedly difficult challenge of wrestling with the loneliness of the sudden and unfortunate loss, Modern Suspects fill the tragic ode with a buoyancy that keeps the emotions from swallowing the song — making for one the band’s strongest releases thus far. Coupled with the emotionally gripping visual, Modern SUspects may have a hit on their hands.