While Bay Area emo band Giveaway were in the process of recording their new EP Midnight Coma, vocalist Sam Zavala tragically passed away from a car accident. What he left behind was an offering of atmospheric, anthemic emo that deserves to be heard, and the band will be giving the EP a release on April 23.
They recently released lead single "Broken" and we're now premiering the title track, along with its video. If you're into the atmospheric side of late-period Title Fight and Balance and Composure, you should hear these songs too. Here's what the band tells us about the new song and video:
"Midnight Coma" was the song we didn’t intend on writing (I guess it was too “soft”) but when we first wrote it it felt so important to us. We felt an immediate connection to the song and it came so naturally, especially the main guitar riff and vocals. Sam’s lyrics instantly spoke to us, we knew he was good at writing lyrics already but when he wrote the lyrics for "Midnight Coma," there was something about them that just stuck to us. This song is the most meaningful song on the EP, also the song that I (Julia) did extra vocal harmonies on after Sam had passed away. “I am alone now, I’m happy here” is a line that will forever stick with us. It’s a song that feels like a comforting lullaby, almost like a farewell to this chapter. We feel that this song most accurately captured who we were in that moment in time with Sam.
The video has footage of Sam during the last month of his life, skating around downtown Santa Cruz. The rest of the video shows the band revisiting the places we’ve been with him, including Santa Cruz, after he passed. We wanted to show how much of a loss it was to us, how truly empty we felt, and how closely we hold and cherish each other now.
The video is a lovely tribute to Sam, and the song is great. Check it out below.
