At long last, there’s a new Des Ark song—well, sort of.
Earlier today, the Vice-boosted blog Noisey premiered “Ties,” the gorgeous and grand first sample of Everything Dies, Aimee Argote’s first full LP since 2011’s Don’t Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker. As the writer Dan Ozzi noted, it’s a fitting if tempered distillation of Des Ark’s two principal modes—as a hair-raising, pensive acoustic soloist and as a room-razing rock bandleader. Recorded in six studios in several states by multiple producers (three of each just for “Ties” alone), Everything Dies arrives via Graveface Records October 6.
You may recognize the slightly loping melody and defiant lyrics of “Ties” as the long-standing Des Ark standard, “Covert Conspiracy of Spanish Speaking Cats.” Argote previously included the track as the stunning closer of the self-released 2007 radio session, Live from WXDU, V.2. It’s a particular highlight for Des Ark, because of its mix of vulnerability and strength, honesty and idealism. (And, mind you, a curt nod to the Mountain Goats’ great “Broom People,” then a fairly recent release when this song first arrived.) Argote examines the abuser and the abused, the addicts and those who love them, discerning the connections and damning them just the same. On this full-band version, resolutions that once seemed tenuous become emboldened, as the band at work translates the battles and storms Argote finds in the world back into sound. “I wish I didn’t give a fuck about the ties that bind,” she sings toward the end, her voice rising against a band that has at last got her back.
