motel void

In 2023, I had the opportunity to interview Dead Bandit, a long-standing collaboration between two musicians who started playing together as teenagers. One of them resides in Chicago, while the other lives in a small town in the Okanagan region of Western Canada. Together, they have been creating music for over 25 years.

I was a big fan of their last year’s album Memory Thirteen, now they’ve released their new single “Half Smoked Cigarette / Glass.”

Once again, their work is instrumental, this time it carries a noticeable post-punk influence. From the very first notes of Half Smoked Cigarette, the music sets a somber tone with a distinct lo-fi vibe. As odd as it might sound, for me, it feels like the perfect soundtrack for these days when the world bids farewell to a beloved director David Lynch.

Dead Bandit’s music is marked by a unique sense of melancholy, but it’s intertwined with beauty, longing, and an adventurous spirit.

The second track, “Glass,” in particular, has an eerie atmosphere, as if it were plucked straight from Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive. It’s captivating and deeply evocative.