THERE are few bands that would dream of filming four music videos back-to-back with a single storyline – fewer still would do so for their first four singles.

But a quadrilogy was the goal for DENI and the stage has now been set for the concluding finale – due out sometime later this year.

The Glasgow-based quartet laid down a marker from the start when they released I Don't Know How to Feel in December last year. Viewers were introduced to the band in crisis as they launch a frantic search for missing singer Deni Smith.

For the second single, Change, we see the band trying to move on and have started the audition process for a new singer. There are some terrific try-outs from the likes of Zoe Graham and Juan la Foret of Quiche.

Last week, with the release of Miles, fans finally discovered where Deni had gone as the singer goes on a personal journey. The situation comes to a head and lays the groundwork for a thrilling final chapter with Let's Build Houses scheduled for release in the next few months.

While for many the saga began in December, for those that worked on it the project stretches back much further. DENI's frontwoman Smith is a keen long-term planner and set about the project shortly after she put her band together back in January 2019.

"It was definitely ambitious," the singer and guitarist says, highlighting long planning sessions and days of shooting with videographer Sean Defrancesco. Three parts of the film have now been released, with the fourth shot and ready to go.

Smith continues: "We sat down and planned it out this whole crazy storyline and each song has come along as a separate chapter of that story. It's a bit of a first, for a local artist on a small level, to create a film alongside the music and to have that span over more than one video.

"It took us ages; we were trying to cram so much into filming days. Trying to get four grown men, with jobs and everything going on, to be available on the same day and the same time was a lot of work, but we made it work."

Each video lends itself to a different colour, with each band member taking the focus for one part of the tale. The underlying theme for all four tales is borne from Smith's experiences in the industry as a young artist, along with the tribulations of launching a new band.

The singer adds: "[The video itself] is really to symbolise the stresses of starting out a band, the hurdles you might face, and the pressures on your creativity. At the start, I've gone missing – I've got up and left because I can't handle the pressure anymore.

"The idea there is that I just wanted to play music with my friends and for the band to not be this stressful thing – and I suppose that's where I was when I was writing songs and working on the script with Sean. So, it resembles what has been going on, really.

"I took time out from music a couple of years ago. I've come back and I'm trying to hit it hard."

Smith was drawn by the work of Janelle Monáe who filmed a separate video for each of the ten tracks on her album Dirty Computer. The band then concocted their own original storyline and began development with Defrancesco. Principal photography took place over the space of a few months, and with project forming such a huge part of so many lives, it was a sad occasion when it came all came to a close.

"We've been filming this since this time last year," Smith says. "It was finished by August and we sat on it; the full thing was there on my hard drive until we put the first one out in December.

"I was pretty upset when I got the final film. It was just the end of an era, and it might sound a bit cheesy to say that, but it was just a lot of work from all of us. It was sad when it was over, but it was so rewarding.

"The four songs will be merged together as an EP. We have blended the four videos together, as well, so there will be a full film at the end of all this, which will be so exciting to put out."

DENI's third track Miles was officially unveiled on Friday last week, with Smith taking centre stage for the video this time around. The song's origin is of some vintage but integrates nicely with the other tracks. Singer Smith feels there could be a bit of a shift there as the band work on new material – which they hope to record once the current coronavirus pandemic has subsided.

Smith says: "Miles is more like I Don't Know How to Feel. We released them strategically. I wanted to give a wee nod to my old style with Change, but we brought that out second so people could hear the new style first.

"It is probably the oldest song we have and wrote it when I was around 14-15 and watching relationships around me and how they hit a bit of a roadblock. It's about me looking ahead to that stage and wondering whether the other person will still be glad to be with me.

"A lot of my songs tend to be about fairly depressing things, though with a positive spin from the melody line making it a little more upbeat. A lot of the newer stuff is a bit more positive."

She adds: "We do have another one to follow, but we'll probably make the wait slightly longer for that, though. Not just because of the current climate, but to build a little anticipation as to what happens in the end.

"It is called Let's Build Houses and that should be out before the end of summer. That is the favourite track for the lads in the band. My favourite song is usually the last one I have written, but they all like Let's Build Houses – hopefully, everyone else will too.

"We've been together since last January and this EP might not sound the same as the other songs we have, but I quite like watching artists go through a bit of a journey and a bit of a genre change.

"These four songs were written by me and had been in the set for quite a while before we started working on them as a band and released them. But the way we are writing now is different – I'll bring an idea to the band and we write on the top of that. We're quite blended that way."

DENI had been due to play a single launch night for Miles at PJ Molloy's last Friday, only for the axe to fall on the public gatherings. "We were looking forward to what we hoped was a busy festival season," she reflects "But with everything getting cancelled and pushed back, we don't really know what's going to happen now.

"There are plenty of ideas for future gigs, but it would be sad to not let the Dunfermline gig go ahead. We will be making that a priority once things die down. But at the end of it all, we're still going to be here – we're not giving up on anything.

"We were working together for almost a year before we come out properly as a band. It's been a journey; we've been able to get to know each other a lot and we're pretty cemented now. It's been a lot of fun and I'm missing them all so much right now.

"We can't wait to get into the studio, once this whole thing is over, and record some more songs that we are so proud of as a band."