The Deathray Davies – “Talking with Friends” [Free Song Download]

Garage rock vets The Deathray Davies are committed to the “everything is bigger in Texas” slogan of their native state, even when it comes to the gap between material. It’s been fifteen years! As their Facebook page glibly remarks, they just took a really long nap. In the sleepy interim, the every-busy John Dufilho continued to create in various collabs, tours, and monikers. The aptly-titled upcoming full-length from The Deathray Davies, Time Well Wasted, pretty much sums up their feelings on the long break.

As a reward for some patience, the Dallas six-piece is offering the recent single “Talking With Friends” (out Nov 13 via State Fair Records and We Know Better Records) as a free song download. The catchy tune is a snappy little number lurching like a mildly inebriated guest at a house party, which is entirely on purpose. On the track Dufilho sheds some light:

“My friend Dandee Fleming lives in Seattle… he sent me a few rough instrumentals asking if I wanted to put words and melodies to them… one of these was called ‘Talking With Friends.’ From the title he gave me, I imagined a small house party and the random observations you make at them. I ended up liking it so much, I asked Dandee if it was ok to put it on the DRD record. Thankfully, he was really into the idea. I thought it was fitting cause I’d just finished writing ‘False Alarm’ which is about trying to convince someone it’s ok to leave a party and to not worry about what other people think.”

“I took the song to the band,  who laughed at lines like ‘Beth’s got a new haircut, but Dan says it’s a shame, he liked it the old way’; they absolutely crushed it. We kept most of Dandee’s tracks and played along to them. I would never have guessed it would work so well.”

The delightful track is a perfect glimpse into the innocuous charm of pre-pandemic times. Enjoy the tune and look forward to checking out Beth’s new haircut in person again someday.

Artwork for “Talking to Friends” by The Deathray Davies