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We recently highlighted Dehd on our list of Chicago bands you need to know about, but if you still haven’t gotten the memo, now’s as good a time as any. The indie-rock trio—made up of Chicago DIY veterans Jason Balla (NE-HI, Earring) and Emily Kempf (Vail, formerly Lala Lala), along with newcomer Eric McGrady—will release their new album Water on May 10 via Fire Talk, and they’ve now previewed the LP with the video for its lead single, “Lucky.”
The new album follows Dehd’s 2016 self-titled debut LP, 2017 EP Fire of Love and 2018 one-off “Dying For.” For Balla and Kempf, Water is what spilled out of a broken place: In August 2017, around the time Dehd began work on their latest, the pair, who had been dating since the band’s formation, went through what a press release calls “an agonizing breakup.” “Realistically, when you have a breakup, you want to isolate yourself and cut yourself off from one another,” Balla says. That’s not what Dehd did—rather, as Kempf puts it, “We processed our breakup through the scope of the band,” going on tour and prioritizing their creative chemistry as a trio.
Dehd directed their “Lucky” video alongside Dom Rabalais, shooting at beloved Chicago venue The Hideout and enlisting their friend Alex Grelle to star as the title character. Balla cameos as a bartender, while McGrady plays the scene-stealing Lucky’s date. “Lucky” itself, meanwhile, is all brave-faced heartache, incongruously sunny surf-rock guitars strutting down a hard road. “Lucky to have people in my life with the power to break my heart,” Dehd rejoice, thrilling with infectious feeling, even though that feeling happens to be pain.
“Emily first ever learned how to sing by singing along to Britney Spears on her boombox. In ‘Lucky,’ we wanted to pay homage to that memory (and to the pop star’s music video of the same name) by enlisting our very own Chicago star, Alex Grelle,” Dehd explain. “We shot it in only a few long shots to showcase the performances by all our talented friends (and not to mention all the set design, costuming and makeup done off-screen). The shoot was trippy, glam, gross and messy. But most of all, it was a lot of fun.”
Watch the “Lucky” video below and find the details of Water further down, along with Dehd’s tour dates, which include eight shows at Austin’s upcoming SXSW.
Water Album Art:
Water Tracklist:
01. Wild
02. Lucky
03. Baby
04. Do You
05. Wait
06. On My Side
07. Sunbeat
08. Push the Crowd
09. Love Calls
10. Lake
11. Happy Again
12. Long Way Home
13. Water
Dehd Tour Dates:
March
12 – Austin, Texas @ The Parish – Get A Grip (SXSW)
13 – Austin, Texas @ Hotel Vegas – Desert Daze (SXSW
13 – Austin, Texas @ Barracuda – Ground Control Touring (SXSW)
14 – Austin, Texas @ Pearl Street – Pond Mag (SXSW)
14 – Austin, Texas @ Hotel Vegas – Levitation (SXSW)
15 – Austin, Texas @ Container Bar – Dr Martens / Collide (SXSW)
15 – Austin, Texas @ Hotel Vegas Annex – Romancing the Wax / Fire Talk (SXSW)
16 – Austin, Texas @ Barracuda – Do512’s The Big One (SXSW)
April
10 – Beloit, Wis. @ Beloit College w/ Ohmme
11 – Fort Wayne, Ind. @ The Brass Rail
12 – Indianapolis, Ind. @ State Street Pub
13 – Gambier, Ohio @ Kenyon College
May
10 – Chicago, Ill. @ Empty Bottle
17 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Union Pool
18 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Boot & Saddle