The band with their Fast Food EP outside Rough Trade - Photo via Instagram
If you've seen D.I.D at one of their Nottingham gigs over the last year or so you'd be forgiven for thinking that they have never really been away. Headline sets at the Hockley Hustle and The Bodega in recent months have kept the five-piece in the public eye even though it's now been three years since the release of their debut album All Our Favourite Stories.
If you've been to a D.I.D gig over the last year - the rebranding from Dog is Dead is now complete - you will have heard the band showcase some of their new material. New songs such as Killer Whale and Sin have been crowd favourites at their gigs this year and now the band finally release their first new material in three years.
Fast Food is the band's new EP featuring four very different new songs. To celebrate the EP launch the band took to the stage in the bar at Nottingham's Rough Trade, with admission reserved to fans who had got their hands on the 10" vinyl EP.
Opening with the excellent Two Devils, the band treated an intimate audience to a selection of both old favourites and new songs.
The title track of the EP is a small slice of everything that the band do well. It's a brilliant indie-pop song with catchy melody and lyrics that speak directly to their young fan base. Just as early single Glockenspiel Song revelled that “we are young, we are failures and we love it”, Fast Food's defiant restrain of “all we do is eat fast food/all we do is fool around/all we do, it means nothing…” once again demonstrates that D.I.D are spokesmen for their generation.
Hotel is arguably the highlight of the new EP, and with a hint of Americana and some beautifully grungy guitar work it's a great song to hear live. It was also great to hear a brand new song - the atmospheric Heavy Cloud - which hints at a more grown-up sound for the band.
It may have taken three years for DID to finally come up with a new record but it's certainly been worth the wait. If the new album - expected to arrive in the spring - is anywhere near as good as the new EP then there's plenty to look forward to.
And hearing these and some old favourites live makes you realise what a great band Nottingham has. There are few artists out there that can produce these textured but instantly accessible indie-pop records and they sound as fresh as anything around. You sense that the second album could be make or break time for the boys, but on the face of this performance I - and the fans at Rough Trade - believe there's plenty more to come.
D.I.D launched the Fast Food EP at Rough Trade on Thursday 24 September 2015.
Fast Food EP is out now via Your Childhood Records. Buy it via D.I.D's website.
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