Falcon Bitch and Gumball are best friends. The Texas-based multi-instrumentalists love to make up elaborate tales of their first meeting: as chimney sweeps in the mid-1700s, as shoemakers in Middle England, as competing acrobats in a traveling circus. It’s a testament to their ever-playful attitude—one that pours over into their project, Being Dead, in which the band toes the line between jest and sincerity. The nurturing foundation of these platonic soulmates urges both Falcon Bitch and Gumball to be their full, freaky selves, prodding at the absurdity of the world with slick n’ dreamy strums, gritty percussion, and kaleidoscopic harmonies.
New album When Horses Would Run propels us into vivid landscapes: desert planes, dirty basements, lush rolling hills. Being Dead is here to create worlds, grabbing our hand and hauling us outside of ourselves, where we can soak in stories of carefree shoplifters, wayward cowboys, and the final moments of a lonely Buffalo on the range. The album doesn’t linger in one place for too long––instead, it dances alongside the periphery, flickering between Super-8 memories and moments. “Our music is really a slice of our friendship,” says Falcon Bitch. “We've lived together and we're always together and I feel like it's a palpable thing.”
Being Dead’s previous releases garnered acclaim for their ability to mimic the band’s renowned live shows. Merging surf rock, freak pop, and frantic punk, Falcon Bitch and Gumball’s eclectic influences and energetic pull swells on When Horses Would Run, charting the band’s progression within Austin’s iconic music scene. Touching on themes of God and what it means to be “good” or “evil,” Being Dead has given the band a chance to explore their upbringings and their obsessions. “I grew up in the church and Gumball didn't but we're really obsessed with organized religion,” F. Bitch explains. Despite her disdain regarding her upbringing, When Horses Would Run is proof that if we search for the beauty between the cracks––and we don’t take ourselves too seriously––there is joy to be found everywhere.
This spontaneous, gung-ho approach marks a refreshing originality in Being Dead. When Horses Would Run celebrates the nourishing merriment of friendship, the importance of enjoying the here and now, and creating simply for the hell of it. Here we have a reminder that we can not only move through the burdens of our past, but we can have company––and fun––while doing it.
- The Great American Picnic
- Last Living Buffalo
- Muriel’s Big Day Off
- God Vs Bible
- Come On
- Daydream
- Treeland
- When Horses Would Run
- We Are Being Dead
- Holy Team
- Misery Lane
- Livin Easy
- Oklahoma Nova Scotia