HANGMAN by Dayton Swim Club

Perpetual Doom is proud to present the debut record from Dayton Swim Club...Hangman. Broadcasting on the lower frequencies of late-night Los Angeles, Dayton Swim Club is the project of songwriter Nick Flessa, guitarist Mario Luna, and vocalist Dominique Matelson. Their debut is a swirling evocation of suburban American discontent in seven immersive tracks—a midnight drive through the hellish landscape of the present.

On Hangman, Dayton Swim Club invite you to follow them down. This is a record of “Darker Moves,” excursions into the seedier corners of what frontman Nick Flessa calls the “American Death Cult.” Paired with Matelson’s operatic vocals, Flessa offers reverb-soaked observations of a world at once futuristic and downtrodden, where the people are as empty as the strip malls. “I see you on the concrete floor, fingers in her dress,” he sings on “Pillow Talk,” over Luna’s twisted jangle pop. That song narrates a teen slasher revenge fantasy in which a cast-aside victim returns to haunt her killer. But the villain makes his own return on the follow-up song, “Night Breed,” where tolling piano and layers of atmosphere accompany a tormented confessional. These scenes are drawn from the Midwestern suburbs of Flessa’s youth and the Californian border town where Luna grew up—places where violence simmered beneath the surface of daily life. That tension roils through the foggy “Landers,” as Flessa chants a kind of self-destructive mantra: “Be your own man. Be your own hang. Be your own hang, man.” And it explodes on the fragmented and driving “Predatory Drift.” Through each pulsing track, Dayton Swim Club channel the anger and absurdity of living through this day and age.

The record was produced and mixed by Mario Luna in the band’s DIY practice space in Los Angeles. Contributors include Jessica Perelman, Kirsten Bladh (Leggy), Pauline Lay, Greg Marino, and J.D. Carrera. Hangman is the perfect encapsulation of, in Flessa’s words, “a land plagued by the bad spirit of a manifest destiny to destroy everything, including oneself...where you have the freedom to use covid, booze, cigarettes, casinos and more to be your own hang, man.”

***This album will be included as a selection in our Doom Club tape of the month subscription.

Tracklist

1.	Darker Moves	2:05

2.	Pillow Talk	2:54

3.	Night Breed	2:56

4.	Landers	3:50

5.	Predatory Drift	4:32

6.	Rage All Night	2:26

7.	DSC	5:40

Credits

released September 17, 2021

As a collaborative ensemble, Dayton Swim Club includes a number of Los Angeles musicians, Kirsten Bladh (Leggy) and Jessica Perelman (Fragile Gang) are regulars on bass and drums. Other collaborators on this record include Pauline Lay, J.D. Carrera, and Greg Marino (Oozelles), Kern Haug (Young Jesus), Ross Chait (Total Heat, Girlpool), John Dowd (Bible Belt), and John German (Laura Jean Anderson) have all contributed to the band's live show. Formerly known as Nick Flessa Band, Dayton Swim Club emerged as Mario Luna, Dominique Matelson, Jessica Perelman and Nick Flessa began to write together after touring in support of Flessa's Flyover States LP.

License

License varies by track. See the invidual track pages for details.