London dreampop trio deary are floating ever closer to liftoff. They have unveiled Alfie, a cinematic, slow-burn epic that arrives with a beautifully shot new video and offers another spellbinding glimpse into their debut album ‘Birding,’ out April 3 via Bella Union.
Clocking in at seven-and-a-half minutes, Alfie begins as something intimate and tender before expanding into a vast, emotionally charged wall of sound. Written as an ode to guitarist Ben Easton’s family dog, the track quietly unravels themes of grief, memory, and the painful act of letting go of childhood. What starts as a personal release gradually blooms into something enormous and transcendent—an ocean of shimmering guitars, hushed vocals, and cascading noise that feels both cathartic and celestial. The accompanying video, directed by the band’s friend Limb, mirrors that sense of beauty and weight, unfolding with a gentle, dreamlike grace.
The single follows lead track Seabird, which quickly established deary as one of the most compelling new voices in modern shoegaze. Early praise has been glowing, with BrooklynVegan calling their sound “a gorgeous cloud of ethereal dreampop,” while Stereogum praised the band for pulling off “celestial sounds” with rare effectiveness. Over on Bandcamp, their debut album has already been described as “full of shimmering guitars and blown-out atmosphere”—a pretty perfect summary of deary’s immersive appeal.
Formed in London in 2020, deary—Rebecca “Dottie” Cockram (guitar, vocals), Ben Easton (guitar), and Harry Catchpole (drums)—bonded over a shared love of classic dream-pop and shoegaze, but Birding feels anything but derivative. Self-produced, the album blends gauzy guitars and trip-hop-inflected rhythms with a distinctly modern emotional core. Across 11 tracks, the band explores grief, mental health, faith, innocence, and the human relationship with nature, letting songs ebb and flow between crushing intensity and meditative calm.
“Birding aims to draw attention to the direct impact humans have on the world around us—nature, each other, and ourselves,” Ben explains. Written during a deeply difficult period, the album captures isolation and despair alongside moments of self-compassion and quiet uplift. It’s heavy, but it’s also healing. As Ben puts it, “Our last EP was us trying to be deary… this album is us being deary.”
With a UK #1 Vinyl Singles Chart debut already under their belt and support slots alongside scene legends, deary are stepping into this next chapter with confidence and clarity. Alfie feels like a defining moment—an emotional, widescreen statement from a band that has truly found its voice.
‘Birding’ is out April 3. Drift in now.
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