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Mar 07, 2024 By Mark Redfern Photography by Michael Schmelling

Amen Dunes (aka Damon McMahon) is releasing a new album, Death Jokes, on May 10 via Sub Pop, his first album for the label. Now he has shared its second single, “Boys,” via a music video. Listen below.

McMahon wrote “Boys” in 2015 while on tour in Sicily. It started as more of a pop-punk song before evolving into something more complex and electronic, with double-tracked vocals and guitar. McMahon had this to say about the song in a press release: “‘Boys’ is another interstitial character portrait, this time about outcasts, ‘bad kids,’ and seeing things from their side: ‘Everything you’ve done, it’s been done to you too.’”

Steven Brahms directed the “Boys” video and had this to add: “We only had one shot to destroy the room. The guys in the video gave us such an authentic look and flow. Everyone on the crew was buzzing after the shoot and we knew we had something special. Destruction can be very cathartic.”

Previously he shared its first single, “Purple Land,” via a music video. It was one of our Songs of the Week.

Death Jokes follows Amen Dunes’ acclaimed 2018 album, Freedom, which was released on Scared Bones, and his 2021 single, “Feel Nothing,” which featured British duo Sleaford Mods and was his first single for Sub Pop.

Death Jokes went through a long birthing process, with work starting in 2019. McMahon was beset by health issues in 2020, including COVID-19, and lost 30 pounds. In recent years his first child was born and he moved cross country from Los Angeles to Woodstock, NY. McMahon also struggled to find collaborators who could line up with his vision for the album. Eventually he ended up working with jazz bassist Sam Wilkes and producers Christoffer Berg (Fever Ray) and Kwake Bass (Tirzah, Dean Blunt), as well as doing sessions with Panoram and Money Mark. The final album includes samples sourced from YouTube videos, including standup routines from Lenny Bruce and Richard Pryor.

Read our 2018 interview with Amen Dunes on Freedom.

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