DEADLETTER share ‘Fit For Work’

DEADLETTER Press photo

Hailing from Yorkshire via South London, DEADLETTER channel the droll fury of The Fall and the lopsided rhythm of Gang of Four into a strain of vehement post-punk, exploring the darker side of existence through a lens of narrative-driven levity.

The band have released their potent second single Fit For Work, following the release of debut single Good Old Days in May this year.

The last year has seen DEADLETTER emerge as a genuinely thrilling live prospect, showcasing their brand of chaotic hedonism across the country supporting the likes of Squid, Viagra Boys and Avalanche Party. Debut single Good Old Days was a clear stylistic marker of the band’s vision and received both regional BBC and 6Music play.

New single Fit For Work follows in that vein, offering an acute, angered study into bureaucracy, and loss of personal identity. DEADLETTER are experts in the field of intensity; seamlessly switching from conversational verses into unadulterated post-punk fury – Fit For Work is a huge statement of intent from the band. Listen to the single via Soundcloud below.

About the new single Fit For Work, frontman Zac Woolley writes: “Fit For Work was a concept a long time before it was a song. As a band, and as a writer, we [I] have always regarded the call and response strategy as biblical. The idea of having a conversation during the delivery of art leads to this absurd metaphysical tangent of acknowledging your art is art whilst performing it; similar to when artists use the line “I wrote this song for you because…” what they are doing, when you think about it, is taking away the idea that what they’re creating exists in itself, and is in fact an entity that exists in a wholly real world.

As a song, Fit For Work is about more than just the Department for Work and Pensions. It provides a mirror to the world, and specifically the Britain of today.  The ideas explored within the track are seemingly exaggerated accounts of reality but, upon close examination, have worrying roots in true experience, with the track aiming to parallel the savagery of the narrator in the song with the actual brutality of our government.

The declaration of someone as Fit For Work is symptomatic of the apathy and bureaucratic cruelty prevalent in society, where being unable to meet a certain ticked number of boxes (either literally or metaphorically), equates to the surrender of personal autonomy, and by extension, individual identity.