SINGLE REVIEW: Dead Animals – Focus

It had been over a year since we had last heard from Dead Animals. The industrial noise project, helmed by Ruby Roadkill, dropped an incredible debut single in the form of ‘Detain’ back in May 2024, and left audiences wanting more until this past month. To say the wait was worth it would be an understatement.

The sensory experience of a H.R. Geiger artwork colliding with a Berghain rave, ‘FOCUS’ is both a cacophonous maelstrom of jarring sounds, and a slick, cutting industrial banger. Roadkill repeatedly asks the listener to focus, and the undulating, hypnotic beats compel you to do so, yet the track never settles in a manner that permits you to focus; it becomes a mental tug-of-war.

Roadkill’s vocals are distorted beyond all humanity, plunged into gravelly lows that almost feel like they emerge from your very own subconscious. They contrast the French spoken-word passages perfectly, as if they are a subliminal message situated beneath the voice of a well-spoken radio host. It all makes for a bewildering and disorienting experience, but one that is impossible to take your attention away from.

With the track’s fantastic production and mixing choices, and details that only reveal themselves upon repeated listens, it is no surprise that it took Dead Animals so long to release their second single, and the wait is undoubtedly worth it. Between her music and her queer-focused music promotions with Transmissions, Ruby Roadkill is not a jack of all trades, but a queen of all trades.

For Fans Of: Nine Inch Nails, Bleached Cross, Ditz, Void Of Vision, Benefits

Follow the artist on social media below:

Instagram // Spotify