We recently featured Esc as he took us on a celestial adventure in the cinematic and sonically astounding masterpiece, Unauthorized Passenger, so we were excited to experience his latest release, Love Bullets.
Establishing the mood with a rippling drum riff and vibrant, galactic electric guitar, Esc opens Love Bullets with drama and subversion. The opus comes hand in hand with a heart-shaped space ship flying through what appears to be a futuristic worm-hole tunnel, and we are mesmerized.
We also see the silhouette of a woman dancing, which adds further intrigue, as the composition expands with the 80s guitar as the protagonist. We learn that the wormhole is in fact the barrel of a gun, held by a geometric light figure, and the heart-shaped space ship is a bullet!
The bullet is unleashed and flies through an 8-bit reality landscape with a bold spectrum of colours and even a tank, before arriving at the figure of a woman. Additional imagery shows the metaphor of chasing a love connection as the guitar work expands to become totally out of this world, rock driven but with a high octane energy and intricacy that is simply outstanding.
Esc tells us that Love Bullets is “a story [that] deals with the complexity of the emotions between lovers in a limitless world.” Immersive drums take over as we see more tanks in line with the sonic design of the mid section. The drama build as the chase continues with string chops, when suddenly the woman is hit by the bullet, climbs aboard and returns to the chest of the light being. The mission is accomplished.
Esc is the alter ego and artist name of Danny Manor, who is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and visual artist. The music is co-produced and mixed by Francois Paul Aiche.
Elaborating on the influence for the composition, Esc says, “We are heavily influenced by Guitar Rock heroes such as Steve Vai, Extreme, yet also influenced and inspired by film scores and film composers such as John Williams, Danny Elfman and Thomas Newman. Our music combines both worlds – putting the guitar as the main character, surrounded by orchestral themes with a solid rhythm section.”
We appreciate the authenticity with which Esc creates, along with the dynamism of Love Bullets, and cannot wait to experience more from the rising artist! Meanwhile, we continue to stream his discography including Unauthorized Passenger!