Dead Poet Society have only one goal for their sophomore album. "We want to leave them with the truth," says frontman Jack Underkofler.
This is by no means a small feat, but if the band’s latest single My Condition is anything to go by, it seems like they’re up for the challenge.
Bringing together fuzzed-out layers of guitars, a radio-ready pop melody and pounding drums that hold it down, it’s the kind of track that’s impossible to ignore.
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But behind the thick wall of sound, Underkofler’s lyrics contemplate big themes: nihilism, the meaninglessness of life and the search for joy despite it all.
“This song took years to write and it’s one of our favourites. It’s about knowing that nothing matters, so might as well go for what brings you fulfilment and do what you want,” he says. “I want more” echoes the chorus – more of a demand than an expression.
After a decade of honing their craft, the Los Angeles-based quartet will drop their highly-anticipated second album, FISSION, on January 26. Spanning 13 songs, the album is a magnum opus, positioning the band to be one of the most exciting things happening in the alternative scene today.
On it, the band tackles the transformative moments of the human experience and all of the beautiful and painful events that have shaped them along the way.
“The past few years have left me in a constant state of growth through the life events of which I’ve had little control, or which didn’t pan out the way I wanted them to. There’s a ‘before’ you, and an ‘after’ you, and there’s no going back. Life tends to force your hand and it’s futile to fight it,” says Underkofler.
“You have to accept that things that happen to you will change you, and let them build you into the next phase of who you are. There is a constant battle to not mourn who I was because the things you go through define you as a person and turn you into a person worth being. But that can be difficult to wrestle with. There is a positive to it, but it is birthed through a lot of pain.”
Dead Poet Society’s album FISSION comes out on January 26. To keep up with the band, head here.
