Exclusive: Pretty Bitter Release “Bodies Under the Rose Garden”

On July 25, Washington D.C. emo-pop band Pretty Bitter will unveil their latest full-length record, Pleaser, via Tiny Engines. Today, the group has shared a new single, “Bodies Under the Rose Garden.” The band’s sound, explosions of big-riff rock music bolstered by synth-pop tangents and dance breakdowns, settles into itself on “Bodies Under the Rose Garden.” The track is patient, crawling through a build-up of looping guitar and bass before giving way to a choppy drum machine, string clips, and collapsing vocals: “If anyone will bury me, I hope that you will bury me.”

Vocalist Mel Bleker says of “Bodies Under the Rose Garden”: “‘Bodies Under the Rose Garden’ was always meant to be set in a sort of dream world where you’re allowed your justice and your joy without guilt or shame. In a literal sense, it’s a dream where all of the people who have hurt my sister are dead and in the ground, and she gets handed her peace without complication. I don’t mean that to imply a kind of weakness or pity—I don’t have a god, but if I did it would be the resilience and strength of my sister. It’s a love song to the dream of her happiness.”

Listen to “Bodies Under the Rose Garden” below.