If music could stretch out its arm and place it around your shoulder, its soft voice may sing you Special Death. In just 15 minutes, Chicago based Kyle Lang empathetically guides you through a high-fidelity, 5-song home recording project that feels more like the comfort of a friend saying, “I understand,” than it does the songwriter’s introspective coming of age EP.
Lang’s self-titled Special Death EP sways from sparsely intimate acoustics to a chorus of blast beats in a moment's time, while Lang’s songsmanship echoes the likes of early 2000s Neutral Milk Hotel and The Microphones — using everything from charming melodies to cathartic screams to loop and knot the human experience. The self-titled Special Death EP blends chapters of Lang’s life playing in Midwest hardcore bands with his renowned history in his bedroom pop band Easter, to blossom a sound that’s both unashamed and genuinely stand alone.
Backed by a crew of hometown musicians from multi-instrumentalist NNAMDÏ to Ratboys’ Julia Steiner, Lang explores his life through a lens of hope and a tragic impact of the daily grind. The Special Death EP’s standout track “Remember” basks in the musician’s yearning request for things to never change, before NNAMDÏ and his Sooper Swag Project collaborator Thrashkitten swoop through a hula hoop of nostalgia that not only pats the back to say growing up is okay, but appreciates life’s journey. Clasped with boundless passion and unrestricted care, Lang’s Special Death EP locks its hand with yours and walks you through a sentimental, foot-tapping glimpse at beauty and pain.
Special Death’s self-titled Special Death EP is out March 26th via Rat King Records, and will be available digitally and on a digipak CD featuring a poster and album artwork by Ratboys’ Dave Sagan.
credits
released March 26, 2021
All songs performed by Kyle Lang, Brendan Smyth, Molly Malloy, Julia Steiner, Marty Silha, Dave Sagan, Drew Erickson, and Sean Neumann with verses by NNAMDÏ and ThrashKitten on track three.
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