Dead To Me – I Wanna Die In Los Angeles

This EP is the first new music from Dead To Me since 2011, and I wasn’t sure what to expect; I was a massive fan of their debut LP, Cuban Ballerina, with decreasing interest in their subsequent releases, until Moscow Penny Ante which regained some of Dead To Me’s unique sound. It is fair to say that I was blown away by this 3 song EP, it showcases the best of the band, capturing their sound from across their career.

It seems strange that they are able to achieve so much in a 3 song, 9 minute EP however from the moment I Wanna Die In Los Angeles starts, my interest was piqued. In this first song, the band recapture their punk rock roots that are seldom seen across their albums aside from a number of songs such as True Intentions

(2006). Lyrically, there isn’t too much in the title track, but there doesn’t need to be, that’s not the point; this is just a solid punk rock song.

The second song, Tune It Out recaptures the bands signature sound from the 2006 Cuban Ballerina album, slightly more mellow with distinctive vocals that are on show. Already filled with nostalgia, the third and final song, “Comforting The Disturbed and Disturbing The Comfortable” comes on and sounds though it was written specifically for Cuban Ballerina and never used. This is by far my favourite song on the album and is perfectly dark to suit Dead To Me, from the long and somewhat disturbing name, to the cult sounding lyric “[kill?] everything that you observe; here comes the master that you serve” and finally the chorus “there’s a payphone at the psych ward, it knows me by my first name”.

This EP is absolutely worth the 9 minutes that it takes to listen through, even if you don’t know Dead to Me or like punk rock. If you can only spare half that time, Comforting The Disturbed and Disturbing The Comfortable” is the best 4 minutes 26 seconds you will have this week.

4.5/5

Matt Power
26 February 2018