If I Die Tonight and their Upcoming Single ‘Would?’- Single Review and Interview
After interviewing If I Die Tonight earlier this year, regarding their debut single ‘Exodus’, it was intriguing to the speak to the duo once again about ‘Would?’, their newest single.
After having ‘Exodus’ out for several months, If I Die Tonight are gearing up for their next release ‘Would?’, available on all streaming platforms from tomorrow, 22nd July. Nat spoke to ALTESCAPE all about the single, what’s changed since ‘Exodus’, and the proudest moments on the track.
‘Would?’ blends If I Die Tonight’s signature ‘grungey’ sound with bewildering new aspects that illuminate the band’s growth since ‘Exodus’. The lyrics in this track are mesmerising with their twisted tales and narratives of love, heartache and toxicity, counter melodies and vocal layering creates an almost hypnotic effect resulting in a complete enthrallment with the track.
The complexity and depth of this track is astounding. All sections of ‘Would?’ have been played in by Nat and Jacob, with Nat focussing on drums, guitar, vocals and synths, whilst Jacob acts as bassist, guitarist, and lead vocalist. The duo outlined that ‘Would?’ has been ‘in the works for some time’, and is actually one of the duo’s oldest songs, similarly to their debut release ‘Exodus’. ‘Would?’ was left unchanged for a considerable amount of time, until If I Die Tonight decided to revisit the track a few months ago. Notably, the song was ‘almost forgotten about’. Upon revisiting the track, Nat said 'During these sessions, we re-wrote the chorus and added the vocal counter melody in the second verse as well as all the lead guitar parts. My favourite inclusion from these sessions was undoubtedly the 80s-style synths at the end. I originally tried it out almost as a joke but then it just spiralled into what you hear in the track.’ Nat expressed that some of the proudest moments on this track are the
synths, but his personal proudest inclusion is the ‘vocal counter melody in the second verse and in the bridge’. He confessed, ‘I’m a sucker for vocal harmonies and counter melodies’.
Nat outlined that ‘It’s definitely one of our less cryptic songs. It’s a song about being really close to someone you just can’t trust. Would? is written from the perspective of someone trapped in a toxic relationship, trying to pretend and ignore that anything is wrong.’ Powerful synths, aching guitar riffs and desperate vocals illuminate perfectly what this track is about. A personal favourite inclusion on this track has to be the phone ringing sample within the bridge. Working flawlessly within the context of the song, Nat outlined how the idea came about: ‘We tend to like changing the sound of the vocal in the bridge of a song and we thought a filtered telephone-esque sound would be cool for the bridge. Once we had that down Jacob suggested adding in a phone ringing sound. It ended
up fitting perfectly in the gap we had between the two vocal phrases, and it gave the track something unexpected, so it stuck’.
‘Exodus’ and ‘Would?’ were originally both planned to be incorporated within an album, that If I Die Tonight were working on prior to the pandemic. Since then, the duo has written ‘loads more songs’, and are planning on keeping both ‘Exodus’ and ‘Would?’ as singles. In terms of If I Die Tonight’s unique sound Nat said: ‘Our sound is constantly changing. We’ve recently stumbled on a sound that we feel incorporates a lot of the grunge-y aspects of these two tracks but takes them to a place that we don’t think we’re hearing from anyone else at the moment’. The duo is currently taking their time experimenting and recording with their new discovered sound and have said that ‘It feels like we’re building a concise body of work so an album might well be on the horizon. However, there is currently no timeline set for any of these newer songs. However, I do hope it won’t be too long till we release more music’.
You can listen to If I Die Tonight’s newest single ‘Would?’ tomorrow on all major streaming platforms, and you can find out more about the duo here.
Comments