The Gala by Ded En

"On The Gala, Brooklyn-based solo project Ded En merges doom, shoegaze, and slowcore into a stark meditation on what comes after grief. The 24-minute EP spans five tracks built from looped bass lines, crumbling textures, and minimalist arrangements. It’s a personal document—shaped by isolation, limitations, and emotional residue—created and recorded in a Crown Heights apartment.

Ded En, a reclusive producer and multi-instrumentalist, describes the EP not as a grief record, but as one about what follows. “You’re still here but things are different. You’ve changed, and so has the world. What do you do with that? That’s what I was writing into,” they explain. The themes of The Gala stem from personal loss and reflect a broader disorientation that resonates post-COVID. “I think a lot of people are sitting in that same place right now… even if the kind of loss was different.”

The project took shape after years of recording without releasing. “I probably had three albums’ worth of material on my hard drive, but only made things for myself and didn’t really think about putting them out,” they note. A friend’s encouragement, and collaborative sessions with visual artist and guitarist NONECK (of Ferocious Fucking Teeth), pushed the EP into the open.

NONECK appears on two tracks: with a solo on “Firecracker” and reversed vocals on “Voice Back.”

Musically, Ded En draws from doom and goth influences like Earth and Warning, but also pulls ideas from electronic music, particularly the layered chaos of Dan Deacon. “His stuff builds to this joyful chaos, and while this EP is slower and heavier, I wanted to capture that euphoric feeling too.”

The production is intentionally minimal. All tracks were recorded with a simple setup: Ableton, a budget interface, tube amp heads routed through load boxes, and tracked one layer at a time to avoid noise complaints. The instrumentation revolves around a custom three-part bass system: a fuzzy tone, a mistracked octave-up line, and a sub-bass that hits with the kick drum. “Together it sounds like that guitar player from Mad Max playing bass through organ pipes carved into a mountain.”

The tracklist opens with “March,” a lurching instrumental that sets the sonic tone. The rhythm sways unpredictably, “like pallbearers trying to keep a coffin steady on uneven ground.” “Firecracker” follows with a looping 4/4 pulse and layered narratives, on “Cousin,” Ded En reflects on family ties and drifting time, while “Voice Back” becomes the thematic hinge. Closing track “The Gala” offers a restrained catharsis."

- Karol Kamiński, Idioteq
https://idioteq.com/brooklyns-ded-en-explores-post-grief-and-sonic-decay-through-doomgaze-on-debut-ep-the-gala/

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