After wrestling with desire on her debut album released on Valentine’s Day 2025, Dead Gowns returns this month with a follow-up record that charts the distance between two chapters that often follow courtship: pain and healing. Arriving this Friday, Vegas sees songwriter Geneviève Beaudoin reflect on a tough transitional period through a collection of 10 songs that explore the dissolution of a friendship rather than a romantic partnership, its indie-folk sonic qualities consistently feeling far more familiar to the flatland between the state she named the album after and her home of Portland, Maine.
The record’s fourth single arrives today, with “Hardcore or Wellness” further outlining the chasm the full album seems to exist within: the feeling of finding yourself stuck between the source of pain and a feeling of self-betterment. The lyrics’ focus on “DIY with a true Y” push up against a clean baroque-pop instrumental, a solemn work of Americana that would feel more at-home at the Ryman than a saloon down the street.
“When I write songs, I have to bend the truth,” Beaudoin shares. “While the content starts out very autobiographical, I have to get some distance from it to move the song forward. I think that’s why I work in scenes, slivers of moments. That’s why ‘Hardcore or Wellness’ turns the lost friendship into a more traditional break-up song. It’s conjuring scenes of how the other person is doing so well (they’re rebuilding their life and moving on) while I’m just trapped in memories and longing. And I can’t tell what would make it better—seeing or not seeing them. That period post-breakup can feel so hazy. How the hell do I move forward? Is this ex welcome in my life or not? Are they a comfort or a crushing reminder of loss? How do I navigate this?”
Check out the video for “Hardcore or Wellness” below, which features Beaudoin having more fun at a laundromat than I ever have. You can also pre-order Vegas here before the record drops on October 23 via Mtn. Laurel Recording Co.
