Deardarkhead release ‘Letting Go’ as first track from ‘The Pendulum Swings’
Deardarkhead (Photo by Mike Maney)
New Jersey instrumental shoegaze and post-punk band Deardarkhead have released “Letting Go”, the first single (and video) from their new, 2nd, album “The Pendulum Swings“. The track is available now on Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp, with the album announced for July 10 on CD, digital and 180-gram vinyl via the band’s own Fertile Crescent Records.
“Letting Go” is an instrumental track built around guitar leads, bass lines and keyboard layers. Joe McGinty plays keyboards on the song. McGinty is known for his work with The Psychedelic Furs and has also performed or recorded with Deborah Harry, Nada Surf and Ryan Adams.
Kevin Harrington says: “This first single ‘Letting Go’ is a song about growth. It’s a song about change. Letting go of old ways. It’s about taking a new direction and knowing that it’s going to be right.”
Robert Weiss adds: “This started out as a piano piece by guitarist Kevin Harrington and quickly grew into a full blown anthem with soaring guitar leads and melodic bass hooks. In demand keyboardist Joe McGinty and fellow South New Jerseyan provided backing keyboard tracks for the song.”
“The Pendulum Swings” contains ten tracks: “Flamethrower”, “Coming Undone”, “Tomorrowland”, “Tears”, “Sad Songs (and Better Days)”, “Letting Go”, “A Thanksgiving”, “Black Pearls”, “In Another Life” and “The Pendulum Swings”. The album has Kevin Harrington on guitars, bass VI, ebow and bass on track 10; Robert Weiss on drums and percussion; Brandon Howard on bass for tracks 1-9; and Joe McGinty on keyboards for track 6.
The album was recorded at Miner Street Recordings in Philadelphia. Brian McTear and Amy Morrissey produced, engineered and mixed the record. Joe Lambert mastered it.
About Deardarkhead
Deardarkhead formed in 1988 in the Atlantic City, New Jersey area. The name Deardarkhead comes from “Cean Dubh Dilis”, an 1867 poem by Irish poet Sir Samuel Ferguson.
The current lineup consists of Kevin Harrington on guitar, Robert Weiss on drums and James Malizia on bass. Malizia joined in August 2024. The band has worked as an instrumental unit since vocalist and bassist Michael Amper left in 2009.
The band’s early lineup included Blakely Parent, Kurt Douglass, Josh Minor and Robert Weiss. Deardarkhead released “Greetings from the Infernal Village” as a tape-only release on Fertile Crescent Records in 1988. “Spiral down and Vibrate” followed in 1991 as a cassette-only release. “Melt Away Too Soon” was released on CD in 1992, followed by “Ultraviolet” in 1993 and “Unlock the Valves of Feeling” in 1998.
Captured Tracks released “Oceanside: 1991-1993” in 2011 as part of its “Shoegaze Archives” series. The release collected early Deardarkhead material and appeared on CD, LP and limited cassette. The band joined Saint Marie Records in 2015 which released the “Strange Weather” EP on March 25, 2016 on CD, LP and digital formats.
Deardarkhead’s music has aalso ppeared on US and Japanese independent compilations, including “Static Waves 4”, “Popular World”, “Dream POP” and “Splashed With Many A Speck”.
And now there is “The Pendulum Swings”, the band’s sixth recording and second full-length album, preceded by “Letting Go”.
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