Dead Sullivan is the project of Denton, Texas resident Boone Patrello, who has been self-releasing lo-fi pop songs since 2015. Patrello recently announced a new Dead Sullivan album, titled Season, which is due for release later this summer. The album’s first single ‘Kyle’ was released a few weeks back, with the Dallas Observer labelling it “a weary but optimistic tune” that heralded the first signs of spring.
Today we have the pleasure of unveiling second track, and again the spring imagery is present in the title. However, the song does not plump for the stereotypical springtime vibe of wonder and joy, instead opting for something a little more unsettled. Despite it’s minimal nature, ‘Swallow’ is impressively atmospheric, gauzy guitar and soft percussion swirling around Patrello’s gently mumbled vocals. As such, the track possesses an air of numbness, the melancholy repressed within the murmured vocals though implied through the sedate tempo. This eventually rises into something a little more upbeat, the track finding a sparkled groove once the vocals have finished, though the words that came before offer a bittersweet context.
“I never saw you
That’s what I like
I’ll take ’em all dude
That’s Friday night
Fall down and drink up
That’s what I like
Swallow after suck
That’s Friday night”