Drab City Share New Track “Devil Doll” Debut Album Good Songs For Bad People Due Out 6/12 On Bella Union
Today new Bella Union signings Drab City, whose debut album Good Songs For Bad People will be released on June 12, 2020, are pleased to share a second track “Devil Doll”. “Devil Doll” is a slow-burning tune of smooth melancholy. A beautiful, airy vocal melody is supported by descending vibraphone chords and a solid bass line, ornamented with strings and flutes.
Though a conventionally catchy and pretty song, everything feels slightly off-kilter, giving it a mildly uneasy quality. The gentle, melodic vocal is actually not, one realizes, delivering a tale of love or romance, but a tale of disappointment, betrayal, and small town hopelessness. Listen to it HERE. A heady air of dislocation envelops Drab City’s debut album, where songs of innocence and experience merge with dub, hip-hop, dream-pop and jazzy soundtrack vibes to intoxicating effect.
Drab City are fixated on social alienation, violent revenge, and (perhaps) romantic love as salvation; topics not new in music, but listening to Drab City in 2020, one is struck by how uncommon they’ve become. Lyrically, these songs often project punkish angst and resentment. “Working For the Men” is a degraded service worker’s revenge ballad, imagining male tormenters brought to a violent end. “Hand On My Pocket” tells of a destitute, wandering youth.
One night she meets a stranger on a desert road, and is told of a nearby city where a soft, rich citizenry make easy targets. Class war is palpable. Other songs are more opaque, but seem to speak of being the black sheep of the family, or being weighed down by the dullness of hometown life. Yet, the casual listener might not notice the violence as the music itself is far from abrasive.
Dreamy and ethereal, a foundation of flute, vibraphone, and jazzy guitar chord melody can switch to drum machines or funk-inflected girl-group pop at a moment’s notice. It’s a flurry of 20th century references, combining and recombining at such a schizophrenic pace, the overall effect is something that could only be conjured in our frenzied present. At once catchy and unfamiliar, the melodic, welcoming soundscapes are a Trojan horse for the band’s antisocial outlook.
Good Songs For Bad People track listing:
- 1. Entering Drab City
- 2. Working For The Men
- 3. Hand On My Pocket
- 4. Another Time
- 5. Devil Doll
- 6. Troubled Girl
- 7. Just Me & You
- 8. Problem
- 9. Live Free & Die When It’s Cool
- 10. Standing Where You Left Me
Pre-order Good Songs For Bad People HERE
