New York City-based band Imaginary People are excited to share their new single “David’s Eyes.” The track is the latest single to be released from their album Alibi out September 12.
Frontman Dylan Von Wagner shares the eerie inspiration behind the song:
“One night I was sitting in central park on a bench and felt something behind me, I turned and saw eyes and not much else, I was asked my name and he returned promptly.. David, and then he was gone….hopefully it was a ghost…cause it sure wasn’t human.”
Alibi, Imaginary People’s third full-length album, is a haunting, cinematic reflection of a culture unraveling. Recorded with producer Phil Weinrobe (Nick Murphy, Pussy Riot, Stolen Jars) at Rivington 66 in New York City and Spillway Sound in the Catskills, and mixed by Eli Crews at Brooklyn’s Figure 8, the album captures the chaos and emotional fallout of a world slipping into disarray. Written during what frontman Dylan Von Wagner calls a “cultural civil war,” the record channels the disorientation and emotional toll of a world where norms no longer apply.
“I just think we’re in an ultimate fight right now,” explains the singer. “Our culture is just falling apart and the ins and outs of our cultural differences are splitting – it feels like what one person says is right and what the other person says is wrong and that’s it. The whole time we were doing the record, it just felt like normalcy was falling apart. The things you’d think would normally be right and wrong – the normal yesses and nos – aren’t happening anymore, and that was very disturbing to me.”
With a sound that fuses post-punk, noir-pop, and a brooding theatricality, Imaginary People – completed by Mark Roth (guitar), Justin Repasky (keys), Kolby Wade (drums), and Bryan Percivall (bass/synth), with synth contributions by Grant Zubritsky – have carved out a world of their own. While there are glimpses of light throughout the darkness that permeates every aspect of Alibi – one that captures the nature of what humanity has become – and while its songs do reflect the harsh, bleak reality of being alive – and of the coldness and meanness of the big city, especially when the world feels like it’s collapsing – it also manages to exist on its own, and on its own terms.
“Imaginary People are just in our own little world,” says Von Wagner. “I don’t think we really participate. I mean we live in New York and it was made here, but we just keep to ourselves. I don’t know where this stuff comes from or why I feel this way and write this shit. I feel like it’s a weird addiction that I can’t shake, and I don’t think any psychoanalysis is going to shed light on it.”
