Pet Deaths weave captivating celestial folk on ‘The Bats In Your Hair’

Every weekday, DIY’s new music know-it-all Neu brings you one essential new release to get obsessed with. Today’s Neu Pick comes from Pet Deaths.

Last summer, former members of Hey Sholay and Let’s Buy Happiness Graeme Martin and Liam Karima – now better known under the collective name of Pet Deaths – emerged with their debut track ‘At The Bottom Of The Hill’, a melancholic, nostalgic number that made their natural progression one well worth keeping an eye on.

Now the band have a debut album coming up, recorded live at the rural Courtyard Studios (Radiohead’s Oxfordshire base), and their latest offering continues their captivating ascent. According to Liam, ‘The Bats In Your Hair’ was “captured in one live take at 3.21am”, and its celestial folk tones indeed plunge the listener into the darkened abyss that can accompany those early hours. Propelled by both stately and twinkling piano melodies and slightly lo-fi vocals, it strikes a stunning balance between intensity and fragility.

Talking about the approach they took with the song, the band say: “We took the same approach as the old great records, we wanted to replicate the fragility of Blue in Green by Miles Davis and My Funny Valentine by Chet Baker”.

Pet Deaths are set to support sir Was at a sold-out show at The Lexington in London on 14th March, but they’re also his special guests at Leeds’ Headrow House on the 15th and at Rough Trade in Bristol on the 16th. Tickets are on sale now.

Listen to ‘The Bats In Your Hair’ below.