Dying 4, the solo project of Blue Bendy guitarist Joseph Nash, has released his debut EP Perish Songs via Practise Music, pushing his experimental instincts into a warped collision of guitar music, club rhythms and bright pop melodies.
Blurring UK garage, midwest emo, bassline and art rock, the EP is rooted in Nash’s upbringing in Scunthorpe and the different musical subcultures that surrounded him. Despite its heavily electronic textures, each Dying 4 track begins with electric guitar before being twisted and reshaped through Ableton.
The project follows recent single ‘Sweetheart Grips’, a collaboration with Tottenham rapper TaliaBle that pairs a sugary chorus with harsh noise and distortion. Nash describes the track as being about “being infatuated to the point where it makes doing terrible things seem easy”, with TaliaBle adding another dimension to its moments of tension and release.
Already known for pushing boundaries as part of experimental six piece Blue Bendy, Nash takes that genre bending approach even further on Perish Songs. Drawing together nostalgia, subculture and years of experimentation, the EP introduces Dying 4 as a distinctive new voice in leftfield guitar pop.
Dying 4 sat down with Wordplay Magazine to answer our infamous 10 Questions:
1. So tell me, how did it all begin? What sparked your love for music?
I’m a common case of Dad’s CDs playing in the car, the classic rock through Britpop pipeline. Then older siblings who gravitated into more alternative circles of 00s youth culture growing up. I’ll still rock a Slipknot t-shirt to this day. There were bitter rivalries between kids listening to emo and metal vs kids into dance music, pitch-up vocal happy hardcore stuff. That clash of youth culture, mostly centred around music and fashion as tenets of identity, is what has informed the direction of Dying 4.
2. Who are some artists that influence you and that you want to work with in the future?
From a guitarist point of view, I’ve always loved unconventional playing and inventiveness from favourites like Kevin Shields, Jonny Greenwood and Vini Reilly of Durutti Column. Production wise, those early SOPHIE singles really opened my eyes to sound design as an instrument almost. There’s outsider pioneers too like Muslimgauze and Burial who are an endless source of inspiration. It’d be wicked to work with people like JPEGMAFIA, Mabe Fratti, Eartheater.
3. What projects do you have coming up and can you give us any info on them?
Following this debut EP, Dying 4 has expanded to a duo which is really exciting. With around an album’s worth of demo’s at the moment we’ve been having a lot of fun using foley and found sound samples in place of classic electronic parts, subs, pads and drum programming. We’re leaning into pushing the vocals as sad as we can, up against bouncy 2-step rhythms, breakbeats and hyperpop moments.
4. How would you describe your sound?
I need to coin a term for UK garage meets Midwest emo, I’ve not found it yet… There’s both those things along with hyperpop, 2-step and indie rock. The drums, bass and production is influenced heavily by UK club music, mixed with guitars, vocals and melodies taken from the sadder sides of rock.
5. What’s your proudest moment to date so far as an artist?
As Dying 4, probably just the response to these first tracks from press that I really admire. Describing what I was trying to do sound wise generally leads to confused faces, but when a spread from Wordplay to Loud and Quiet, Stereogum to Wonderland all find something in it they like, then that’s pretty cool. I also play in a band where our biggest achievement to date has been playing Brixton Academy, on a personal level also playing Barrowlands in Glasgow, I’ve got a real affection for the city, it’s where I’d be if I wasn’t in London.