London-based duo pet deaths return with their new single all the things you said you were. It follows the band’s widely acclaimed debut album To the Top of the Hill and Roll… – released in 2019, described by Huw Stephens as ‘beautiful, understated and special,’ noting it as one of his favourite albums of the year.
Now the pair (consisting of Graeme Martin and Liam Karima) return with the first taster of their second full length album. Celestial folk-inflected art-rock with flashes of affecting string arrangements and muted flute passages, all the things you said you were is an entrancing treatise on loss; ‘a message to the afterlife,’ singer Liam Karima clarifies.
Having both moved to London in 2017, pet deaths formed following a chance encounter in Ladbroke Grove. Feeling equally cellophane new in the capital’s concrete fast lane, they agreed to meet regularly. Their subsequent writing and drinking sessions became a Zen-like philosophy by which to navigate their new homes, spending gloomy November evenings on their rain-soaked Ballardian balcony, experimenting with loops, drones and poetry.
Previously supporting the likes of Elbow and Arab Strap, pet deaths are no stranger to the live stage – with more shows planned for 2022. The band’s unique brand of melancholia has seen high praise from publications including DIY Magazine, So Young Magazine, Clash Magazine and Drowned In Sound – as well as feverish radio support from BBC 6 Music and Radio 1, as well as Radio X and NTS.
