Brooklyn, NY/Toronto, ON-based indie rock/pop duo The Dream Eaters return with their macabre yet comic new single, “Dead Friends,” a track that transforms loneliness and loss into something strangely celebratory. Blending humour with the surreal, the song tells the story of a trip back to your hometown, only to realize the life you once knew has vanished. Friends are gone, but their ghosts remain – so you invite them over for dinner.
“It’s about taking a trip to your hometown, and the loneliness of realizing that what you knew as your life there has disappeared,” explains Jake Zavracky (vocals/guitar/programming). “So you go back to your apartment and have dinner with their ghosts. It’s humorous and surreal but also about celebrating the moments we shared with the people who have left us.”
What makes “Dead Friends” unique is its unflinching embrace of the macabre through something as ordinary as food. “I don’t know that anyone has ever written a song about making dinner for ghosts,” adds Zavracky. “It’s also about food, and how we use food to show love. Making dinner for people is the best way to show love for your friends.”
The track was mixed by Zavracky’s longtime friend John Dragonetti – known for his work in The Submarines and Jack Drag – adding another layer of nostalgia and connection to the release. It also draws inspiration from Italian chef Gennaro Cantaldo, who once cooked a lemon pasta for his late friend in a moving video that inspired Zavracky to write “Dead Friends” instantly.
Since 2015, The Dream Eaters have evolved from a dream pop band into a full-on video art project, releasing hundreds of darkly humorous and visually inventive videos. Vocalist/keyboardist Elizabeth LeBaron (originally from Calgary) and Zavracky (originally from Boston) began making music together while working at a bar in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood, eventually joined by drummer/dancer Steve Fugitt.
Their catalog includes EPs, two albums (We Are A Curse, 2017; Pagan Love, 2018), and their ongoing web series The Dream Eating Freakshow. With a growing cult fanbase across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, and extensive touring in the U.S. and Canada, The Dream Eaters continue to balance catchy indie pop hooks with gothic humour and surreal storytelling.