So Broken Up About You Dying

Reviewed by THE QUIETUS: thequietus.com/articles/29197-budokan-boys-so-broken-up-about-you-dying-review “You might be in a market/You might be in the desert” When Budokan Boys (Jeff T Byrd and Michael Jeffrey Lee) reunited in 2019 to record their new album, they were in bad shape. Byrd had recently lost his father, and Lee his brother. They decided the new album would need to address these losses—that it would be a “death record"—but that it might explode the satire of their previous releases and move toward something heavier, more cosmic and more mysterious. The resulting album, So Broken Up About You Dying, is part danse macabre, part grotesque séance, and 100% manic memorial. The program boasts a dreamy, saxophone-spiked overture, a weeping-and-wailing Greek chorus, soliloquies by a number of unstable characters, an absurd, murderous climax, and a mind-bending denouement (featuring guest vocals by Lenka Soukupová). The dearly departed would be proud. So Broken Up About You Dying is the third full-length from expat duo Budokan Boys. Currently ensconced in Europe, Byrd and Lee follow up their previous albums (Dad Is Bad and That’s How You Become A Clown) with their vinyl (and CD) debut, courtesy of NYC’s Ever/Never Records. On "So Broken Up...", Budokan Boys hold your hand and hit your funnybone with a hammer while you prepare to face the uncertain future. Come come, the Magic Mountain awaits... For US orders, please visit: evernever-records.bandcamp.com/album/so-broken-up-about-you-dying