Death Popsicle is the solo project of an Arizona-based artist working in the space where industrial, darkwave, and 90s alternative all bleed together, pulling from touchstones like Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, and Type O Negative. The debut EP, “Komusล,” takes its name from the wandering Japanese Zen monks once known for covering their faces with woven straw baskets and giving up their sense of self in pursuit of stillness, and it’s set to arrive on July 31. “Animal” is the first real look at it.
Animal
“Animal” is built around a pretty uncomfortable idea: underneath all the conditioning, we’re still running on instinct, and most of the day is just spent fighting that fact. The production leans hard into industrial-tinged darkwave, tense synth lines, a bassline that growls more than it grooves, and a low, constant sense of dread that never really lets up. The verses come in fast and clipped, almost tripping over themselves, like something that’s been building for a long time finally has somewhere to go. There’s more anxiety in it than actual anger, the sound of someone who feels boxed in by expectations and worn down by scrolling instead of living, watching whatever freedom they had curdle into something closer to unease.
That tension fits right into what the rest of “Komusล” is reportedly built on. Recorded out in the woods of Northern Arizona, the EP leans on isolation and self-examination as recurring threads, matching the emptiness baked into its title, and it’s all wrapped in that same industrial-edged, emotionally heavy sound. This isn’t music that’s trying to be pretty about any of it, which is exactly the point.
Final Thoughts
“Animal” is a strong, unsettling introduction to “Komusล,” and if this is where the EP starts, it’s a good sign for how heavy the rest of it might land. “Animal” and the full “Komusล” EP arrive July 31.
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