"for nightmare / you break your bread / expecting angels instead / haaaah oh ohhhhhhhhhh..."
The garden folk punk adorations of "Nightvision" by Austin, Texas based Being Dead, full of unreal beautiful flowers and acerbic weeds, draws you in like a country carnival with absolutely free tickets. Like all of their music, there is a sense of deeply poetic storytelling laced with A24 subversions and splinters of lunacy. I guess I am trying to say that their sound, hard to define, feels like an embracing backyard party full of strangers who accept you as you are. Not sure why I feel that but I do. Maybe because the duo of Falcon Bitch (guitars, drums, vocals) and Cody 'gumball' Dosier (guitars, drums, vocals) with Nicole Roman-Johnston (bass, vocals) on live performances, feel wonderfully non-normie like us normal non -normies.
I am going to gleefully not describe "Nightvision" which is from Being Dead's latest album "EELS" because any sort of description would not do the song justice. All I need or want to say is that it is very special, full of surprises, has moments that I have never heard in other songs and it's artistic sensibility made me think of artists like The Babies (the too short lived project of Kevin Morby and Cassie Ramone), Together Pangea, Black Lips, Peach Kelli Pop, Tuxedomoon or maybe an amalgam of all these artistic beings.
The "EELS" album drops September 27th on Bayonet Records.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://beingdead.bandcamp.com/album/eels
https://www.instagram.com/being__dead/
https://www.tiktok.com/@being__dead
https://www.facebook.com/beingdeadforever
Being Dead came upon the scene in Austin, TX five years ago with their distinctly right-brain songcraft, mischievous humor, and implausibly great vocal harmonies. Even as they’ve graduated from curiosity to cult favorites, I’ve yet to encounter a single person who dislikes Being Dead. The garagey psychedelic outsider pop band should be considered in the same category as rainbows and finding $60 in the pocket of a winter coat: incontrovertibly lovable.
When Horses Would Run, recorded at Radio Milk with producer/engineer Jim Vollentine (White Denim, …Trail of Dead, Spoon), spit-shines Being Dead’s sound without diminishing their weirdo-best-friend vibes. Their penchant for idiosyncratic lyricism and musical unpredictability shines in “Last Living Buffalo,” which finds Gumball and Falcon Bitch trading lines over a bouncy bop before skidding into a heavy doom breakdown. It stands in stark contrast to the gentle Laurel Canyon-style folk rock of “Daydream,” showcasing Being Dead’s extraordinary harmonies – at once plaintive, uplifting, and eerie. Their vocal interplay, however, can be just as good in contrast, like on “Muriel’s Big Day Off,” where Gumball’s garage punk monotone delivery and Falcon Bitch’s tuneful tenor volley back and forth in what sounds like the theme song for some Adult Swim cartoon. Being Dead is recommended if you like Devo, the Pixies, the Beets, Violent Femmes, or living your life like it’s an ungraded art project.
Being Dead, indie rock, garage rock, alt pop, busker punk, folk indie, flower punk, garden rock, "Nightvision", upcoming album "EELS", beautiful flowers, acerbic weeds, Bayonet Records,
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