NFV Song Spotlight: Essenger's After Dark

Jesika Von Rabbit has a Saturday night residency for the month of October 2024 at Harvard & Stone. I was aiming to go to the October 12th residency, but I happened to notice that Halo Kitsch was playing an outdoor street festival and I decided to catch that set instead and switch to seeing Jesika Von Rabbit on the 19th. That was a good trade off, because I got to catch Essenger. I'm doing a round about way to get to Essenger, but when I first saw the night's line-up, I thought Jesika Von Rabbit was playing with the Los Angeles band Essencer. I took a closer look at the name and realized there was a "g" versus a "c."

Essenger at Harvard & Stone

I missed perhaps the first 10 minutes of his set. That's what I get for trying to target getting to a venue just as the set is about to begin. My reasoning was that Jesika Von Rabbit was saying she was going on at 10 p.m., which to me really meant 10:15 p.m. at the earliest. I figured Essenger would get on stage at 9:15 p.m. -- perhaps even 9:30 p.m. I got there at around 9:10 p.m. and said my greetings to the manager of the venue who told me that Essenger was already on stage. 

Essenger at Harvard & Stone

I walked in and the first thing I noticed was that the crowd was pressed close to the stage. This wasn't a crowd that was hanging out towards the middle of the venue, which is often the case at Harvard & Stone (as well as other Los Angeles venues). Then the music hit me. It was definitely in the vain of the electronic genre. The vocals have an occasional techno distortion, but also ring true at other times. He is definitely not hiding his vocals behind computerized adjustments. When he moves away from those distortions, his vocals carry melodies in a wonderful manner. The music's electronic beats pulsate and layer in with either soothing melodies or aggressive basslines. I could easily imagine many of his songs fitting in perfectly in the soundtracks of either video games or anime movies. The crowd definitely enjoyed the 35 minute set.

Essenger at Harvard & Stone

One of the songs I appreciate is "After Dark," which is the title track from his 2020 album After Dark. 

Disconnected, don’t know why we fell apart.
The feeling sets in only after dark.

Only "after dark" does he think about his ex and why the relationship ended. Is that another way to say that his morning hours are spent thinking about the recent break-up? To some degree, those thoughts occur, because his ex tries to reconnect, but is his ex attempting to rekindle the relationship or just checking in to see about his mental health?

Saw you called, wonder why you try, I’m still alone.

You're on your own.

Either way, it is a music of heartbreak.