Chicago-based trio Dehd have shared a new single/video, “Flood,” from their new album, Flower of Devotion, which will be released on July 17th on Fire Talk.
“Falling in love with someone is like becoming water,” says vocalist/bassist Emily Kempf. “A flood is powerful, uncontrollable, devastating. Water can nourish or destroy.” Its accompanying video, directed by Kempf and Andrew Miller, is driven by Kempf’s compelling choreography.
Listen/watch “Flood” below:
Dehd went into the album’s writing and recording with clear minds, ready to take what they’d learned on their previous record, 2019’s Water, and refine it further. “The last record the vibe was ‘How minimal can it be? What’s the minimum that a song requires to succeed?’ This one was like, ‘How can we make this thing that’s really powerful?,” says vocalist/guitarist Jason Balla. Kempf clarifies: “We didn’t become more perfectionist. We’ve always been really scrappy, but we decided to polish our scrappiness just a little bit.”
While they were writing the album, Kempf says, “we both went through hell, literally, and the world seems to be going through hell, too.” Balla experienced profound loss and all that comes with it: For him, the album is about “all the fixes you try to put on your problems,” he says, “struggling with bad impulses.” Kempf, for her part, cultivated the sense of self-sufficiency she craved, which forced her to confront her own need for attachment. “I’m obsessed with being with people, or I’ll have my identity attached to a partnership, whether it’s romantic or in the band,” she says. “How can I be utterly alone and chill?”
Flower of Devotion artwork & tracklist:
1. Desire
2. Loner
3. Haha
4. Drip Drop
5. Month
6. Disappear
7. Flood
8. Letter
9. Nobody
10. No Time
11. Moonlight
12. Apart
13. Flying