Eugene, Oregon-based band Laundry are building towards the release of their new album, Movie Star, and have this week shared the first single from it, “Don’t You Dare”. It finds Kiki Paroissien-Arce on vocals, and she reveals about the song:
“I wrote ‘Don’t You Dare’ about an imaginary cast of characters in a broken marriage. It’s about the narrator’s struggle to keep a hold on the idea he has of his wife and family, while facing their real struggles and dysfunctionality.”
An atmospheric indie jam, that finds Laundry exploring new facets of their sound to accentuate the characterful display of the lyrics, “Don’t You Dare” might be the band’s most accomplished song yet. It begins in with a propulsive and teasing intro, but quickly languishes as Kiki’s voice enters, playing the role of a bedraggled partner, getting home from work to find their wife sitting at the top of the stairs, whisky in hand, hair wrapped in a towel. While this might not seem like a cause for distress normally, Laundry add some spooky effects while Kiki intones “she won’t leave.” It seems the wife is suffering an anxiety attack, unwilling to go out and wishing to die. This naturally causes panic in our protagonist, and Laundry hurtle back into the gung-ho rock out to emphasise his rising heart rate and confusion. As they reach the finale, repeating the titular “Don’t You Dare” over a lo-fi freak out, we feel our character being pulled in multiple directions, with no clue what to do. Thrilling.
The strangeness of the lyrics is emphasised with the video, which finds Kiki as an agoraphobic vampire, and things get kookier from there… watch it below or find “Don’t You Dare” on streaming platforms.
We await more news about Laundry’s new album Movie Star, but for now you can follow them on Bandcamp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
