Bath producer sophomore dives into a ‘Shallow Grave’ of anxiety on his new single

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 sophomore.

Few could hope to create quite like Alex Sears. Under his sophomore guise, the Bath-based songwriter spends his days experimenting endlessly, writing music under new aliases at a mind-blowing rate. Early Bandcamp releases were often only available for a limited time, before Sears wiped them from the ‘net. New album ‘God Save My Beating Heart’ is his attempt to leave a lasting mark.

It’s being led by ‘Shallow Grave’, premiering below. A dissection of the anxieties that flood the mind during the earliest days of a newfound love, Sears’ vocal is paired with a softly struck piano. As thunderous drums fill the void, it morphs into a clattering noise - one that perfectly reflects those more fearful moments. A world away from sophomore’s grungier past, and in another universe to Alex’s days as frontman of pop-rockers Decade, it’s a breathless introduction to yet another side of Sears’ musical psyche.

“‘Shallow Grave’ is about finding someone that you love and accepting in your head that you’re going to be the reason that it falls apart, because the other person is so pure,” Alex explains. “It’s that helpless feeling that everyone probably gets at some point, like ‘this person is amazing, how will I sabotage it this time?’ and that terrifying thought has been responsible for a lot of the record, lyrically speaking. The ocean projections in the video represent that suffocating, drowning feeling.”

sophomore’s new album ‘God Save My Beating Heart’ will be released later this year. Live dates are also set to follow - until then, sink into ‘Shallow Grave’ below.