The Deadmans have arrived, and they’ve brought a whole world with them. The London-based international alt-pop collective released their self-titled debut album on April 24th, and it’s the kind of record that announces a genuinely distinct creative vision. Written and recorded across Paris, London, Brooklyn, Silverlake, and Brunswick Heads, Australia, the album is as transient and restless as the band that made it.
The latest single “If Arizona Didn’t Exist” is out now and it’s a quietly brilliant piece of work. A breakup song with no interest in drama, it trades bitterness for something more complicated and more honest, a bashful thank you wrapped in sarcasm and relief. Lyricist LaurenSage Browning captures it perfectly: “Gently indifferent gratitude isn’t sexy and doesn’t often get airtime in the discussion of fizzled out love stories, but I think it’s a very common final-destination emotion to land on for a mismatched pairing of two decent, but gravely different people.”
The self-produced music video, shot on 16mm film on a desolate stretch off Pear Blossom Highway, matches the song’s campy, knowing tone. Harry Deadman describes the intention: “We wanted this video to feel campy and glib to align with the 21-year-old-petulance that this song reflects on. Using the mid-roadtrip-strandedness as a sort of ‘Waiting for Godot’ container, we let sincerity seem cheap and light when framed through the ‘nothing-better-to-do-ness’ of waiting.” Cinematography is by Maximillian McKay, with color grade by Megan Lee at Electric Theatre Collective.
The Deadmans are Harry Deadman on music and production, LaurenSage Browning on lyrics, and Nikki DeParis on vocals. The album was mixed by Jake Black and mastered by Ruairi O’Flaherty, whose credits include Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Lana Del Rey. Their debut single “Nice Kid” already earned enthusiastic responses from Record of The Day, LOUD WOMEN, and At The Barrier. The album is out now.
‘The Deadmans’ Track Listing:
Nice Kid
If Arizona Didn’t Exist
She’s Not Here
Bull
Make Me Prey
Darling
You’re My Edge
Opposite Of Lonely
Cynthia
Tattoo Season