Deleted Scenes will release Young People’s Church of the Air on Sockets Records on CD (Sept. 6) and LP (Sept. 20). This second album builds on the “thoughtful existentialism and strange, drowsy downers“ of their 2009 debut, Birdseed Shirt (Pitchfork, 8.0), pushing the band’s formidable rhythm section further, and exploring the possibility of hope.
Grabbing rhythmic feels from 80s pop, R&B, surf rock, dark funk, and Go-Go, Young People’s Church of the Air showcases Deleted Scenes discovering what it can do. Drummer Brian Hospital introduces the double-kick pedal to art rock with thoughtful drum arrangements. The lyrics find Daniel Scheuerman taking risks to explore themes of family, love, death and joy in a self-devouring poetic style. The album’s production is fuzzy and warped, inspired by the cassette warble of Southeast Asian psych-pop and the detuned stew of Elliott Smith’s final album, From a Basement on the Hill.

The songs began as fruity loops-based jams in Scheuerman’s basement studio, the Crab’s Claw, which were then introduced into the band environment, taking on a live identity over the course of 300 shows on tour. The album was finally recorded at the Garden Center in Hockessin, DE, with Nick Krill (the Spinto Band) and Birdseed Shirt producer L. Skell. It contains a mixture of studio sounds and home-recorded lo-fi noise.
The album title comes from a 1930s radio-church hymnal Scheuerman found in an old piano bench, and evokes the elusive and sometimes illusory nature of hope.
The first single from the album, indie club anthem “Bedbedbedbedbed“ was released on July 5 in 12“ 45 RPM format.

Deleted Scenes is based in Washington, DC. They are Daniel Scheuerman (guitar, vocals), Matt Dowling (bass, keyboards), Dominic Campanaro (guitar, keyboards, samples), and Brian Hospital (drums), with guitar playing by Chris Scheffey on tracks 1, 6, and 11. They have shared the stage with Cursive, Wild Nothing, Abe Vigoda, Black Kids, The Antlers, Medications, Matt and Kim, and others. They have played SXSW, CMJ, and Pop Montreal.