Sometimes, in death, a star is born. And so it is the case with Phoebe, the dearly-departed aquatic companion who experiences an alt-culture rebirth as the unexpected inspiration for “Goldfish,” the unsettling new single from Brooklyn disco-punk outfit TVOD, a band that sounds like what you would expect from one that (probably) takes its name from the b-side to The Normal’s ground-breaking “Warm Leatherette.”
A black streak of glitter simmering across a combustible infatuation, “Goldfish” is the third single from TVOD — that’s “Television Overdose” for those who were never a teenager — over the past few weeks, following October’s “Alien” and “Mantis,” and somersaults sideways into our lives with an animated video created by Scott Palazzo.
“Our guitar player Jason and I were messing around before band practice one day and started hammering out these very primal bass & drum beats,” says TVOD vocalist and songwriter Tyler Wright. “I couldn’t help but use my goldfish ‘Phoebe’ who had passed the day before as the writing inspiration for this song. I felt guilty about her biting the big one under my watch so I decided to write a song in which my friend Ted is actually is the one that murders her. RIP Phoebe. I blame Ted.”
Damn, Ted. Keep Phoebe in your fishbowl thoughts and thrash and ache to each elbow-thrusting riff with “Goldfish” below.
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