DEHD

DEHD's name is a leftover from their beginnings: Jason Balla of Dream Eagles and Emily Kempf of Heavy Dreams started a side project under the mashed-together name Dream Eagles Heavy Dreams, and it got squeezed down almost at once. With Kempf on bass, Balla on guitar, both of them singing and Eric McGrady on drums, the Chicago trio makes indie rock that sounds homemade in the best way.

A nine-track self-titled album arrived in 2016 on Maximum Pelt, followed by the six-song Fire of Love EP in 2017 on Infinity Cat. That summer they recorded themselves on borrowed gear in a room of an old Frank Lloyd Wright warehouse, which tells you plenty about their budget and their nerve. Water, their first for Fire Talk, came out in May 2019; that October they toured Europe opening for fellow Chicagoans Twin Peaks, and Flower of Devotion followed in July 2020 after the pandemic pushed it back.

Blue Skies, in 2022, sharpened everything. "Bad Love" jangles and bounces, the vocals swinging from swoon to yelp over a heartbreak you can dance to. Poetry followed in 2024 with "Mood Ring", restless and bright.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.