downtalker reclaim a life-long journey with two new post-punk disco singles
The Massachusetts project unveils ‘All My Friends Are Dead’ and ‘Watch Your Heart Break’ via Iodine Recordings on Friday, September 15
OUT NOW: Listen to the two downtalker new singles via Spotify
downtalker make their live debut on September 22 at the
Fiddlehead record release party at Royale in Boston
BOSTON, Mass. [September 15, 2023] -- Before anyone enters the dance party, they have to pay a cover. And before downtalker could take shape as a musical project, they had to pay a certain debt.
The Boston post-punk disco project is set to release two new singles on Friday, September 15 via Iodine Recordings, the appropriately and very intentionally titled “All My Friends Are Dead” and “Watch Your Heart Break,” and both are fraught with the lived-in experience that brought them to this moment. It’s a moment of clarity, triumph, and progress, and for downtalker, featuring longtime friends, collaborators, and Massachusetts natives Darin Thompson (lead vocals, synth, bass, guitar), Justin Mantell (synth, guitar, bass, backing vocals), and Matt Freake (Drums, percussion, backing vocals). On Friday, September 22, downtalker make their live show debut, opening Fiddlehead’s record release party at Royale in Boston.
Everything in the musical world of downtalker arrives with specific intent and meaning, though it may be a simple coincidence that the two new singles clock in at just over seven minutes in combined length as Thompson celebrates seven years of sobriety and recovery from drug addiction.
“For me, releasing music is one of the most uncomfortable yet beautiful things in this world,” says Thompson. “The beautiful part is the connections you make with people and I’m so excited to connect with those who have gone through similar things. The way I write is quite subconscious. So much so that I have that word tattooed on me. The music just opens me up. It’s always a healing journey and it’s always a pit in my stomach because every word I sing is my truth and I believe if you’re not feeling uncomfortable with the truth in your art you’re not doing it right. I’m trying to heal and trying to figure out why all these moments are sticking in my head.”
Traces of downtalker’s ability to harness the harsh reality of addiction and the ongoing process of recovery were first chronicled on 2021 debut album Post Junkie Selfish Millennial Single Father Field Notes. The record was championed by Fiddlehead’s Pat Flynn in Brooklyn Vegan’s Best of 2021 series, and spontaneously shared online by the likes of Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and Home Is Where. Here on “All My Friends Are Dead” and “Watch Your Heart Break,” downtalker capture a kinetic energy and hyper-active style and present their tales of desperation and despair repackaged with an underlying message of hope.
“Our music can appear unhinged on the surface, but there's always an underlying melodic or vocal hook to keep us grounded,” says Mantell. “We really enjoy stretching the boundaries of sound design, adopting and exploring elements of noise, punk, disco, and pop. In the past we lacked the confidence to create what we really wanted to create, but now we write and release what feels to us as the most truthful representation of where we are as songwriters at this stage in our careers.”
Their sound is augmented by the addition of Freake, who Mantell collaborates with in Boston alt-rock band Dutch Tulips. Thompson and Mantell, childhood friends who have been making music together for the past 20 years, create the core of downtalker’s sonic foundation, and Freake’s drums and percussion take it from the living rooms and practice spaces and into the clubs. “Having played music for a long time, it's really easy to get jaded,” Freake notes. “Since getting involved, I've found Darin's genuine excitement and passion for making music really inspiring and contagious. It really helped remind me why I started making music in the first place and connect with that core passion.”
Mantell echoes that sentiment: “Darin's got an uncanny way of inviting the listener (and his collaborators) into a world of gritty themes. Our idea of a good party is one where people can dance while feeling uncomfortable. Crying is OK.”
Thompson’s passion is rooted in pain, and nurtured by love. After finding a path to recovery seven years ago, a life mission was crystallized by the birth of his son, Kai, in 2018. A few short months later, two of his closest friends in recovery, Allen and Jesse, relapsed and died within three days of each other. Both friends, as well as another named Josh, are at the core of “All My Friends Are Dead,” a hypnotic and urgent electronic-pop track that swirls and aches with creative tension. Thompson singing about throwing a tennis ball against the wall takes the listener into the games they would play late at night at rehab facilities; from there, he opens his heart and his world to relay the stories of those no longer with us.
“Each person I talk about in this song helped me immensely in some way,” Thompson notes, recalling the special energies of those fragile enough to seek help, and how their stories all become intertwined. “Music is part of my recovery and part of my healing now and I’m hoping that by being honest about my life, all my experiences will shine a light on this disease and also make others feel like they are not alone. We aren’t alone. We have each other. The song is called ‘All My Friends Are Dead’ but I’m hoping it will have the opposite effect and bring us together. Alone we can’t, but together we can.”
Similarly, “Watch Your Heart Break,” with its icy-cool post punk mood and ocean-like depth of exhaled tension, is about the old addiction adage “You’re only as sick as your secrets,” says Thompson, stressing how honesty is the most important part of recovery. It was written after attending Fiddlehead’s Between The Richness album release show in 2021, and Thompson was moved by bands like MOVE and Fiddlehead speaking freely on stage about harm reduction and bringing addiction resources to the show to be displayed and distributed at the merch table. Suddenly, he felt less alone, and those messages continue to resonate with Thompson on a regular basis, as his day job as a truck delivery driver brings him to Boston’s Mass & Cass neighborhood, where the suffering of the unhoused is on display for an uncaring city to see. He often recognizes the faces of those he once shared a recovery program with.
“This song is my call to other addicts that you can always start again and be beautiful,” Thompson says, highlighting some core lyrics. “Literally no matter what. You can start today! Getting honest and getting uncomfortable is the way to heal and I’m trying to do this with my art and through that I want to build a community where we can heal together, dancing to songs with heavy themes as one because alone we can’t but together we can!”
The themes surrounding downtalker’s music are dark, but each effort glows with an underlying light. Linking up with Juan Pieczanski from Small Black and Pitchfork video series “Juan’s Basement,” who mixed both songs, extends their network to a larger audience. And joining the Iodine Recordings family furthers a blossoming friendship between Thompsopn and label owner Casey Horrigan, who has opened doors for the project across the music industry. Each step of the past 15, 20 years – the ups, the downs, the sideways – all have meaning, are all intentional, and they all lead to a way that’s not exactly a way out, but a way back in.
“I've seen Darin at his best and his worst, sometimes on the same day,” admits Mantell. “Addiction stressed our relationship in ways I found surprising, but it also made us closer, more like brothers. I am very proud he is in recovery, he's strong. It's inspiring, and I believe he's gaining more and more confidence to be OK with himself each and every day, and I'll continue to show up and do whatever I can do to support that trend. These new songs contain universal themes of pain and uncertainty, and we've finally been able to unpack and examine our lives over the past 15 years in a brutally honest way. This is what helps us grow and heal, and we're eager to share our experiences to hopefully help those around us see that hopelessness in the now does not mean you'll be lost forever.”
Thompson agrees. As he begins to feel joy through his art, he wants his story to become a compass for others. And he wants downtalker’s music to open up new conversations. One post-punk disco beat at a time.
“I started using drugs at age 15 so when I got sober seven years ago, I felt like I was that 15 year old kid again,” he concludes. “It’s been a long journey trying to get mentally and spiritually in the right place. Time is such a beautiful thing and it gives me so much perspective and I find now I can look back at a lot of my traumas and experiences in a much different light and I’m able to sort of unlock a lot of feelings and put them into the music and out of my head. I want to make new associations for some of the hardest moments in my life. I used to think back at some of the guys I met that died with such pain and now I can think of the effect they had on me and the art they inspired and feel so thankful for my moments with them. So downtalker in 2023 is beginning to make sense of it all.”
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downtalker is:
Darin Thompson: Lead vocals, synth, bass, guitar
Justin Mantell: Synth, guitar, bass, backing vocals
Matt Freake: Drums, percussion, backing vocals
Production Credits:
Both tracks written and produced by downtalker
Lyrics by Darin Thompson and Justin Mantell
Mixed by Juan Pieczanski
Mastered by Joe Laporta at Sterling Sound
Press photo by Alexa Noe
Singles art by Charlie Bertsch
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downtalker artist bio:
downtalker is a Boston-based post-punk disco project rooted in recovery, chronicled by struggle, and nurtured by love. A result of 20 years of collaboration and friendship between Massachusetts natives Darin Thompson (lead vocals, synth, bass, guitar) and Justin Mantell (synth, guitar, bass, backing vocals), 2021 debut album Post Junkie Selfish Millennial Single Father Field Notes landed in Brooklyn Vegan’s Year in Review series. In September 2023, with an overall sound now augmented by Matt Freake (drums, percussion, backing vocals), downtalker released two kinetic new dance-minded singles – “All My Friends Are Dead” and “Watch Your Heart Break” – via the resurrected Iodine Recordings, with their debut show arriving a week later, opening for Fiddlehead’s highly-anticipated record release party at Royale. More new music is set to come, opening up the creative world of downtalker and the difficult, yet hopeful, stories of addiction and recovery contained within.
