I started this year genuinely excited about three albums due to arrive on our collective musical horizons: ‘Of the Earth’ by Shabaka Hutchings, ‘Honora’ by Flea and ‘Existence is Bliss’ by DEADLETTER. The first of the three has just landed and, like my 5-year-old discovering a new series of Vida the Vet dropping on iPlayer, I happily pressed play, sat back and took it in (minus fluffy unicorn slippers unfortunately).
But why the excitement? Well, DEADLETTER’s 2024 debut ‘Hysterical Strength’ was glorious, the intensity of their live show blew me away, and that was followed by lead singer Zac Lawrence’s second solo album ‘Beware of Pity’, which was also outstanding. On that record, Lawrence was joined by Nathan Pigott on clarinet, who has also joined DEADLETTER in the interim, replacing the very talented Poppy Richler on sax. Vitally though, Richler’s sax was a huge part of the debut album’s sound, so how would this change translate on the new offering?
From the opening track ‘Purity I’, ‘Existence is Bliss’ reveals the band to be sonically in a different place. It’s not a huge departure, but the immediacy and hook-heavy ‘Hysterical Strength’ has been displaced by something with more patience and space to breathe. There is a drift and openness to the sound without losing touch with the brutal angularity and driving rhythms that make DEADLETTER’s stamp infectious. It feels as if the band have both tightened up and relaxed musically with layered and textured songs that have much going on without ever feeling claustrophobic. The evolution reminds me of Idles, comparing the rushing brilliance of the early albums ‘Brutalism’ and ‘Joy’ to their latest ‘Tangk’. All three records are outstanding, but the most recent has more for the listener to tune into, more songs that throw up new gems to notice with every listen. This is how I’ve experienced ‘Existence is Bliss’, I’m on the third listen now, and I’m still being surprised with ears pricked up for something that I’ve missed.
The beginning of ‘It Comes Creeping’, one of the single releases from the album, illustrates this so well, with many different elements threaded together that surprise and keep you guessing. The sax oscillates between the Berlin Trilogy and whale song with ray gun synths. High-hat rolls are followed by a possible nod to Talking Heads’ ‘Road to Nowhere’ and then howling guitar notes are bent to a wavering moan. A song about addiction, perhaps? Paranoia? Social anxiety? I don’t know, but it ‘wears me like a sweater’ (great line!) and I’m ready to hear it again.
Lawrence’s lyrics play a key role in the storytelling of each song. He is a lyricist who draws you in as his words are important to him and carefully laid out with structure and intelligence, without dominating the sound. In ‘(Back to) The Scene of the Crime’ he sings ‘It should be where the screaming stops, but the screaming never dies.’ Who is this person? What mayhem has this protagonist caused, and did the victim deserve it? Again, who knows? But I love it.
Interestingly, the two songs I’ve picked out have a clear negative energy to them, but the overall album doesn’t feel like this; it often talks of embracing potential, of taking life on and making the most of opportunities without shying away. Life can, of course, be painfully hard, but the rewards are there if we keep going. ‘Focal Point’ reminds us that we only get one shot at this, so make it count because ultimately, as Lawrence says, ‘…that’s your lot.’
I love ‘Existence is Bliss’. With it, DEADLETTER feel as if they’re ascending creatively and playing together beautifully. Each band member has the space to breathe, step up to play and then drift back to let another take over. The songs themselves are very strong and with such a binding cohesion that the album is greater than the sum of its parts. But, I have to say, like Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained and Alan Rickman in basically everything, Nathan Pigott is the consummate scene-stealer. His saxophone playing wails, drones and dances throughout every song and, with every respect to Poppy Richler, has elevated the band’s sound and taken it to new heights. What an album, give it several listens and then tell your friends.
