Dehd is back today with a new single/video, “Month” from their new album, Flower of Devotion, out July 17th on Fire Talk. Following previously released singles “Flood” and “Loner,” “Month” is a melodic, drifting track that fittingly sounds exactly like the end of summer. In the accompanying video, directed by Cal Fish and made entirely in quarantine, animated drawings appear over ambiguous video clips. “Month explores the cyclical nature of memory and how our relationship with a particular time changes through the years” says Jason Balla. “I’m fixed on summer and its inevitable return. Carefree and sun-kissed, there’s a shadow of loss, guilt and grief coming back round n’ round each calendar year.“
WATCH DEHD’S VIDEO FOR “MONTH”
The follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2019 debut, Water, Flower of Devotion is a major step forward — and a major statement, period — for Dehd. The performances are sharper, shot through with emotional clarity. The production, courtesy of Balla, shades everything in rich sunset tones. Flower of Devotion seems drawn from a well of confidence much deeper than the one they’d tapped on Water.
The polish on Flower of Devotion brings out the shining and melancholy undertones in Balla and Kempf’s songwriting, even as it captures them at their most strident. His guitar lines at times flirt with ticklish cosmic country, while at others they reflect the dark marble sounds of Broadcast. Kempf, meanwhile, establishes herself as a singer of incredible range, pinching into a high lonesome wail, letting loose a chirping “ooh!,” pushing her voice below its breaking point and letting it swing down there. When she and Balla bounce descending counter-melodies off one another over McGrady’s one-two thumps, or skitter off over a programmed drum pad, they sound like The B-52s shaking off heartache.
What makes Flower of Devotion so impressive is how its creation seems to have strengthened its creators, both as individuals and as a unit, even as they’ve stared down their own limitations. It’s also striking just how much fun they seem to be having in the process.