Show Preview: Julien Baker w/ Dehd @ Stubb’s 10/27

The shows start coming and they don’t stop coming! Tomorrow night, we’ve got a great lineup once again gracing the stage at Stubb’s, and one that will make you come out early. Headlining the evening, we have Julien Baker, who dropped a lovely album earlier this year called Little Oblivions. Her masterful songwriting, heavily emotive lyrics, and vocals that can cut you deep should make for a wonderful evening in the gravel at Stubb’s. But before you start crying at the club, make sure to get there early for openers, Dehd, who I’m stoked for. This Chicago trio dropped one of my favorite albums of 2020 in Flower of Devotion, which is a no-skips-post-punk ripper. Take a listen to some tunes below and then scoop some tickets while you can!

 

Dehd Share Month Video

Up until now, we’ve mostly been hearing the Dehd singles through the voice of Emily Kempf, but this round, we get to hear Jason Balla take the lead, so it offers a slightly different twist. You get about 15 seconds of his voice hanging out in the air alone. Suddenly, the rhythm section drops in and speeds up the song’s energy; the churning guitars still have that crispness you’ve by now begun to associate with the band. Balla’s performance doesn’t differ too much from Kempf’s, other than perhaps tone; they both have this knack for holding their notes and sort of draping them on top of the energetic propulsion of the band’s sound, working to provide that perfect contrast. Flower of Devotion is out next week via Fire Talk.

Dehd Drop Flood Video

Dehd are just so hot right now! Those of you that were super into the band’s debut Water will still enjoy the simplistic approach to their craft. But, as we continue to hear more from Flower of Devotion, that sound has branched out, broadened at the mouth of their musical river. There’s this surfy dreaminess to the guitars this round, though there still feels like there’s plenty of space for the song to move about, allowing Emily to come in with one an incredibly strong performance of her own. She toys with the listener just a bit, quivering with some notes, almost distorting the delivery of the song’s title “flood,” but I couldn’t help other than to feel drawn in, enamored with the tones of her voice as guitars buzzed and nipped at my ears. Flower of Devotion is out on July 17th via Fire Talk.

Dehd Announce Flower of Devotion

I feel like Water was one of those albums that was vastly overlooked by folks, but I keep coming back to various songs and the record as a whole; I love longevity in a record, so take that for what its worth. Today, Dehd announce their brand new album, Flower of Devotion, and do so with a short film that accompanies the lead single, “Loner”. The band wanted to maintain their minimalist approach to song craft, though they admit to smoothing out some of their rougher edges in the new songs. Still, Jason Balla’s guitar lines still have that dreamy angular fascination with the world, whilst Emily Kempf’s distinctive voice dominates the performance on this tune…her range seems to know no bounds. I for one am all on board with those poppier edges! The new LP will be out on Fire Talk on July 17th!