Song of the Day: Speedy Ortiz - Death Note

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Death Note” by Speedy Ortiz from their 2016 EP, Foiled Again, on Carpark Records.

Speedy Ortiz - Death Note (MP3)

A UMass Amherst lecturer plus a trio of local favorites from Northampton, MA, equal the unlikely combination that creates Speedy Ortiz. The Massachusetts-based band started in the summer of 2011, as a side project of vocalist Sadie Dupuis when she was teaching songwriting at a summer camp. Initially recording on her laptop, the project expanded to now include guitarist Devin McKnight, drummer Mike Falcone, and bassist Darl Ferm in the live setting. After a string of EPs, LPs, and a few lineup changes, 2016 has marked the release of their fourth EP, titled Foiled Again. “Death Note” is the first single off of the record, and is indeed named after the anime of the same name. Opening with hard, screeching guitars and a bass hook that bites, Dupuis’ softer vocals come to take the edge off a bit. She says of the track, “The song is about writing through your depression as a way to get better, and how in that way a death note can be kind of love letter to yourself.”

Speedy Ortiz is only scheduled to play one headline show in Pittsburgh and then Forecastle Festival in Kentucky for the rest of the summer, so keep your eyes on their website and Facebook page for more announcements about the rest of 2016. For now, be sure to check out Speedy Ortiz’s latest performance in the KEXP studio below: