Dancing in a graveyard has never been so uplifting as what we see in the new “Back from the Dead” video from gloomy june. With their distinct, high-energy blend of synthpop, pop punk and emo, the San Francisco quartet tear the band-aid off relationship injuries and confront core wounds in a way that will have you up on your feet before you know what hit you.
Playing their part as a kind of funeral version of a wedding band, gloomy june barrel through “Back from the Dead” with frenzied abandon as frontwoman Alexi Belchere brandishes a bouquet of flowers and rolls over her own grave — the implication being that we don’t stay “buried” under grief after stumbling in relationships, even if if feels like we’ll never be able to pick ourselves up. (The cover art for the single features the band gathered at the entrance to a mausoleum.)
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“‘Back from the Dead’ is the first offering from our debut full-length, which we worked on for a year,” Belchere explains. “In the process of writing for the LP, I wanted to reach further into vulnerability with my lyrics. I was trying to do more than just state my own feelings. I wanted to dig deeper down and explore the layer beneath what I thought I was trying to say.”
“So, for example,” she continues, “I’d start out writing about feeling uncertain with opening up in a new relationship — say, because of past trauma — and I’d end up groping around my discomfort with myself. I also explored the idea of how we sometimes use new love as a means of escaping reality. If you follow your longing, your rejection and your hurt, you get to the source of those feelings and it’s like an entire underground cave to shine a light on. That process of illumination is what excites me so much about our new material.”
If it seems odd that the rest of the band smiles while Belchere lays herself bare, it’s this very contrast that underscores one of gloomy june’s fundamental attributes: where bittersweet guitar lines and anthemic synths pair-up with danceable/mosh-able drums, you’ll find lyrics about grief and anxiety; conversely, where there are heavy drum breakdowns and descending chords, there are lyrics about hope and love overcoming the weight of the world.
Between now and the LP release, you can catch gloomy june performing at your local LGBTQ+ event or punk space soon. Be prepared to dance while being vulnerable with your friends!
Gloomy June
“Back from the Dead”
Oct. 25, 2024
Credits:
Written and performed by gloomy june (Alexi Belchere, Devin Nelson, Jack Sundquist, Ash Hyatt).
Recorded and produced by Ivan Garcia.
Cover art by Gryme.
The Band:
Alexi Belchere — vocals
David Nelson — guitar, synth composition, backing vocals
Jack Sundquist — bass, synth production
Ash Hyatt — drums
Gloomy June online:
