Just a couple of years ago, it would’ve seemed — well, maybe not unthinkable, but certainly a little unexpected for Merchandise and Dum Dum Girls to show up on a song together. But hey, here we are, and isn’t this a nice place to be? Last year’s magnificent After The End was both Merchandise’s big pop move and their best work yet, an album that took the dark new-romantic heart they’d only hinted at on previous releases and pumped it full of enough John Hughes soundtracks to make it beat, to turn them from Ally Sheedy at the beginning of The Breakfast Club to Ally Sheedy at the end of The Breakfast Club (except without all of the #problematic baggage that that entails). Dum Dum Girls don’t necessarily mine the same set of influences, but they rely on a similarly retro goth-pop glamor. And yes, now the two have combined forces on a new 7″ single, the a-side to which is “Red Sun,” a moody track that rests on a pulsing, sinister synth line and arid guitar. Dee Dee handles the verses, playing some sort of man-eating desert siren, while Carson Cox jumps in on the chorus.
4AD records group Merchandise and NYC’s Dum Dum Girls have combined their forces to great a subtle poppy masterpiece. The 7“ includes the new songs “Echo“ and “Red Sun“.
The latter is spiced up with synth driven beats and Merchandise signature reverbed guitars. This solid instrumental is the backbone for the continuously evolving obsessive duet between singer Dee Dee and Carson Cox. The red sun is glamorous and shimmery. Of course this romance is doomed to fail and to fade out into fatal silence. We are left alone with just the hazy memory of a lost love.
The record is out November 27th. Pre-order available @ Sub Pop Records
The Fat Angel Sings 