In the same way that a decade ago the power duo à la No Age and Japandroids ruled supreme, the 2020s seem to be a golden age for lo-fi experimentalist pairings. Citing Hovvdy and @ (the band) as influences, Oakland duo dog eyes are among the newest faces to this phenomenon, with their 2022 debut album good, proper send off catching the ear of Grand Jury Music. After announcing their signing to the label back in April with the single “fair,” Hailey Firstman and Davis Leach return again today with another new track in the form of the gentle ode to a trusty companion, “rusty, my dog.”
Matching the minimalist bedroom pop and unexpected existentialism of Hovvdy’s early work with the surreal tinge of @, the track is another promising indication of what dog eyes’ Grand Jury debut will have in store. The duo sums up the single as “a grumbling, slow-and-steady meditation about Martin, our favorite dog. While light-hearted and sweet, it sends us off with chilling mantras like: ‘I don’t exist outside of his big ears,’ and ‘I’m not whole when you’re not around.’”
Check out the song below, or stream it here.
