Sometimes I wonder if vampires are really meant to scare us nowadays. I mean, yes, the whole sucking blood thing is fucking weird and creepily and cannibalistic. But pop culture’s depiction of these cold creatures almost seems too fun (if not wholly empathetic). Take “Big Bite,” the latest single from Baltimore’s Angel Du$t, which comes with an Ian Shelton (of Regional Justice Center and Militarie Gun)–directed video that finds the band turning into a group of dice-playing vampires. Despite the whole restricted diet and the bad colored contacts, hanging out with members of Trapped Under Ice and Turnstile seems wildly cool?
If you listen to the lyrics of the poppy sing-along track, which comes with the announcement of the band’s forthcoming album YAK: A Collection of Truck Songs, the whole vampire thing works as a metaphor for how difficult it is to be a good human. “Big Bite” gnaws at the temptation to be a soulless monster when the darker human impulses kick in. At one point vocalist Justice Tripp recalls advice his grandma gave him, singing, “Don’t be no fool, don’t tell no lies / Thought I got it right.” Alas, the darker impulse comes out: “But I take a big bite / When it feels right.” It’s a lot easier to handle that pain when you got good ol’ vampire friends singing along with you, right?
YAK, which is out October 22 via Roadrunner Records, is the follow-up to the group’s 2019 album Pretty Buff. Produced by Rob Schnapf (Kurt Vile, Elliott Smith), it was recorded in LA last year over a two-month period. “People get really married to the idea of making a record that sounds like the same band. If one song to the next doesn’t sound like it’s coming from the same band, I’m OK with that,” Tripp said of the album.
Watch “Big Bite” below, and pre-order their album here.
