More about: Deadletter

Channeling The Fall’s wry aggression and the lopsided rhythms of Gang of Four, South London’s Deadletter have kicked the door in on 2021 with new track ‘Fall of the Big Screen’ - a tense and urgent piece of post-punk. 

Deadletter emerged out of 2019 with a string of chaotic tours under their belt - joining the likes of Squid, Viagra Boys and Avalanche Party - and enjoyed praise across 2020 from Steve Lamacq and Huw Stevens for singles ‘Good Old Days’ and ‘Fit For Work’, noted for their willingness to dissect politics and contemporary living. 

‘Fall of the Big Screen’ laments the loss of cinemas and independent creative spaces, and the inevitable rise of corporations like Netflix, sold under the guise of entertainment democracy. Frontman Zac Lawrence says ‘We are being sold free choice at the click of a button when in reality our options are shrinking…we are algorithmically given a narrow margin of preference which blinds us to any true alternative. The Fall of the Big Screen is imminent…’ In a time in which many of us find these services a larger part of our lives than ever, their CEO’s undoubtedly making a bigger killing than ever in the midst of a global crisis, Deadletter’s sentiment is especially apt.

Opening with a gritty, hypnotic guitar line, the track immediately pursues an atmosphere of tension with dark textures accumulating over a sparse beat. Lawrence chants across the track, dry and vitriolic, his capability with lyricism and cadence in clear evidence. Most rewarding however is the undercurrent of feral energy pervading ‘Fall of the Big Screen’, a tension threatening to break that reminds us of Deadletter’s origins and home - live, in independent spaces, where it will hopefully return soon. 

‘Fall of the Big Screen’ is out now.

More about: Deadletter