Geographer’s New Song “Hollow (Do You?)” Finds the Human Psyche Thwarting Love

The LA musician’s forthcoming album “Down and Out in the Garden of Earthly Delights” is out November 12.
Geographer’s New Song “Hollow (Do You?)” Finds the Human Psyche Thwarting Love

The LA musician’s forthcoming album “Down and Out in the Garden of Earthly Delights” is out November 12.

Words: Kim March

photo by Monica Reyes

June 10, 2021

Los Angeles-based artist Mike Deni has been releasing indie pop gems for over a decade under the name Geographer.  His group has released three albums including 2008’s Innocent Ghosts, 2012’s Myth, and 2015’s Ghost Modern. Now, Geographer is preparing for the release of their fourth album Down and Out in the Garden of Earthly Delights—following 2019’s New Jersey EP—due out November 12. The latest single “Hollow (Do You?)”—co-written with singer/songwriter Evalyn—is a vibrant synth-pop track about how we can say the dumbest things to those we love the most.

“This song is about all the bizarre things we say to the people we love the most, that we don’t even mean. But in the moment we are so utterly convinced of their righteousness, that we might even start yelling at each other,” Deni says about the track.

“What are we defending? And why is it so hard to simply say things that are real? Who’s idea was it to hide our truest feelings under layers and layers of traumatized memory, and sublimated angst? It’s not the way I would have designed the human psyche, if I had been in charge. But basically it’s the great struggle of being a person. How to cut through all the distractions, and find your way through the maze and avoid all the traps, all just to say, “I love you,” or “I’m sad,”or “that hurt my feelings.” This song asks the question, which I wish people asked themselves much more frequently: do you really mean that?”

Hear “Hollow (Do You?)” below.