In the summer of 2014, pop enthusiasts Dude York changed. When their workspace was in use one afternoon, practice moved to singer and guitarist Peter Richards’ apartment, where they shared with each other a handful of songs in progress. Bassist and singer Claire England shared one of hers for the first time, and Peter and drummer Andrew Hall were immediately, viscerally moved by what they heard. Everything was reframed in seconds; if Dude York was once solely a vehicle for Peter’s energy, and one in which he was its main character, it suddenly became a true collaboration, a neverending venture between the three of them with stops along the way in DIY spaces, makeshift studios, and anywhere else it led. “Love Is” and “Lose Control” are the first in a series of singles to be released this winter and documented evidence of this growth.

Change was something they desperately needed. A year of obsessive writing and recording became a means by which to stay sane in the wake of lost friends, visceral mood swings, and the feeling of being an active participant in destructive repetition. A job spent analyzing thousands of hours of recorded music left Peter desensitized by the tropes and conventions of songs as he once knew them, but he found beauty in pop equilibrium. Writing with new insight and clarity in mind, more collaboratively than ever before, and in an attempt to create forward motion in the face of a series of disasters, the songs that emerged hit everywhere at once.

Claire describes “Love Is,” her anthemic side of the single, as an exploration into the boundaries between self-care and self-immolation: “It’s about the balance between turning experiences into art and the line one crosses when realizing someone’s a person and a participant in your stories as much as you are in theirs’.” “Lose Control,” Peter’s side, is a whisper into the ear of a driver swerving into oncoming traffic, a death-drive post-punk daydream.