Synth-Pop Luminary Geographer Shares New Track 'The Light In The Dark'

Synth-pop visionary Geographer shares the last new single, “The Light In The Dark,” before his new record, A Mirror Brightly, drops on February 23, 2024. The anthemic track layers up-tempo 80s-inspired synth over driving drumbeats and Mike Deni's pitch-perfect soaring falsetto.

The official video, directed by Deni and his partner Monica Reyes, features the couple in a sparse studio and some truly epic choreography.

When asked about the track, he explains, “It's not always something beautiful in someone that attracts us to them. Sometimes, it's something weak in ourselves. Those relationships are obviously doomed, and I've had many, because I spent most of my life thinking deep down that I was unworthy of actual supportive, respectful, real love. I thought I was just inadequately designed, destined to be forever reaching past my arm's length, getting there by other compensations and compromises. This song is basically about that.”

For A Mirror Brightly, Deni has assumed the role of thinking man's anthropologist, picking through the wreckage around us in a world increasingly ensnared in everything from religion to social media.

While it is still deeply personal, it's not simply autobiographical like his previous releases.Mostly self-produced, he tapped Taylor Locke (Rooney, Linda Thompson, The New Pornographers), James Riotto (John Vanderslice, Samantha Crain), and Daniel Che (Run River North) for some finishing touches. The record will include already released singles, “Learn How To Lose: Act 1,”  “Everyone,” “The Burning Handle,” “Van Halen,” “I Don't Remember It Starting,” “One/Other” and “You Never Know.”

To celebrate the release, Geographer will headline The Rickshaw in his former hometown of San Francisco on February 15th and then post-release, will celebrate at Lodge Room in Los Angeles on March 9th. Both shows are on-sale now. 

The headline shows follow a fall tour supporting Small Black on a sold-out North American run. In addition to the upcoming gigs, Mike Deni, the atmospheric-pop act's frontman has also launched a Podcast called That Resonates With Me, where he interviews singers about how they shaped their voice and how their voice shaped them. For the inaugural episode, he chats with Jon Sandler of Great Good Fine Ok.

Formed in San Francisco, Geographer is the moniker for the now Los Angeles-based Mike Deni. Part social scientist, part troubadour, if Geographer is an expert at anything, it's precisely chronicling life's imperfections. He has headlined many national tours, played Outside Lands, Just Like Heaven, Firefly, Treefort, and other festivals, released three critically acclaimed albums, including 2021's Down and Out In The Garden Of Earthly Delights, and has performed with such musical luminaries as K.Flay, The Flaming Lips, Young The Giant, Tycho, Ratatat, Betty Who, and Tokyo Police Club.