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May 11, 2020 By Samantha Small Photography by Alexa Viscius Dehd

“How can I be utterly alone and chill?” asks Emily Kempf of the Chicago-based trio Dehd on their new song “Loner.” The melancholy track is the lead single off the band’s just-announced forthcoming sophomore album, Flower of Devotion, out July 17 via Fire Talk. Along with the track is a new video directed by Ryan Hart and Kempf, featuring Alex Grelle as “Angela the Angel,” Sarah Squirm as “Drunk Ass Demon,” and Noelia Towers as “Queen Satan.” Watch the “Loner” video below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art.

The “Loner” video follows the journey of Angela the Angel’s journey to hell—which just so happens to be the nightlife of Chicago’s beloved The Hideout. In typical Dehd fashion, the guitar riffs of “Loner” putter between crispy country twang and mellow alt-rock while simultaneously entertaining a heartbeat drum rhythm. But unlike their rawer 2019 debut Water, the production on “Loner” is tighter. Yet, Kempf’s classic wails are still as strong as ever.

Oddly enough, Kempf explains in a press release how the song came from a place of isolation after the band’s extensive touring. “Play it right boy, play for keeps/I’m the right kind, play for me/I’ve had enough of each other/Want nothing more than to be a loner,” she sings.

Like Angela the Angel, Kempf agrees that it’s “okay to be lighthearted in the face of despair.”

“Being alone and grieving is very isolating,” Kempf says in a press release, “but then you come out of your little cave of grief, and your friends and family and partner are all there to pat you on the back and hold you until you have to go back into the cave of grief alone.”

Flower of Devotion Tracklist:

1. Desire
2. Loner
3. Haha
4. Drip Drop
5. Month
6. Disappear
7. Flood
8. Letter
9. Nobody
10. No Time
11. Moonlight
12. Apart
13. Flying

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