DEADLETTER - Existence Is Bliss

'Existence Is Bliss' is an album forged on gratitude for being alive, even if it might not appear that way on first listen. Yorkshire/London six-piece DEADLETTER delve deeper into sonic darkness, using Echo and the Bunnymen-esque synths and chaotic swirls of clashing guitar and saxophone lines to create the musical equivalent of an existential crisis.

This isn't a crisis that reads as a dirge, though; instead, enticing you into the darkness until you realise that, actually, at its core, this is a record about enjoying the little things; it's about making sure you're living through every experience, every interaction, rather than clocking out and mindlessly floating through your turn at existence.

DEADLETTER's debut, 'Hysterical Strength', can still be heard in this newest venture, most obviously through Zac Lawrence's introspective, philosophical lyricism in 'Songless Bird' and 'To The Brim', as well as in the rattling drums of 'Frosted Glass' and jazzy saxophone solos of 'What the World Missed'. This time, though, everything is turned up, broadened out, and made that little bit more frenetic.

Maybe some of the aspects could do with fading away to soften the most unsettling of the chaos, removing one idea from the other six that appear to be happening in every track, but then that isn't the point. It is a record with untold depths that reward you for sticking with it, returning to it, and ultimately appreciating it on a new level.

It certainly sets this post-punk, indie-pop, genre-amorphous band on a very intriguing path.