Daily Dose: Pill, "Midtown"

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Pill have shared the music video for “Midtown,” the newly released second single off their forthcoming album Soft Hell, out Oct. 26 through Mexican Summer.

Pill bring out all the spooks on “Midtown,” an apathetic anthem of deathly seriousness that shines a light on the bloodsuckers walking amongst us every day. The video finds members of the band walking around the titular part of town, attempting to blend into the bloodsuckers’ ranks, which means wearing vampire costumes as they tour New York City.

The band explains this decision in a statement:

In a world where vampires rule the streets of New York City, vampires are seen, ruling the streets of New York City … is there enough blood to go around? A scream splits the sky, as a check is cashed in Midtown. What’s that smell you ask? Hell is the subway! Blood, money, death, corruption, Dance Dance Revolution. Scream, if you dare!

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The song itself is a hazy, gothic no-wave ode, sounding like Siouxsie and The Banshees got lost in the desert for 40 days before winding up face-down and whispering in the gutter. The song is in some ways a microcosm of what the album as a whole is about. Drummer Andrew Spaulding said in a statement that Soft Hell “critiques the ‘work-to-play’ cliché of New York life, with its breakneck, competitive pursuit of comfort,” and “Midtown” functions as a mission statement against said followers of comfort. All those vampires and mentions of blood are just euphemisms for the real spookiness Pill are getting at: the spookiness of a bloodless society hell-bent on money.

Listen to “Midtown” below and check out Pill’s full list of tour dates further down.

Daily Dose: Pill, “Midtown”

The song is off their forthcoming album Soft Hell