exclusive: teamonade’s ‘do & die’ is indie rock at its best

I long ago made a truce with the spiders. The terms are clear: I’m fine with them existing as long as they agree to catch all the mosquitoes and never venture near my bed. So I’m seriously feeling this new track by shaggy indie rock trio Teamonade. With a stream of conscious vibe, singer/guitarist Osi Okoro lays out that anxious half-awake feeling when you catch a spider out of the corner of your eye while you’re in bed. The spiders have violated the treaty. They must be destroyed.

Okoro explains: “So, you’re lying in bed tucked in ready to have a nice beautiful slumber, and the last thing your eyes meet is a spider on the ceiling right above your head. That’s what I wrote this song about, all the times that I’ve seen a bug when I really didn’t want to.”

What starts from a simple ping of arachnophobic anxiety builds to an out-of-left-field hook and a full-on existential crisis. The song has a classic indie rock push-pull dynamic between the vocals and rhythm section. Okoro goes off on a rhythmic tangent before snapping back to the hook under mounting waves of fuzz. Like the best indie rock, “Do & Die” thrives on an overabundance of personality.

Teamonade’s debut EP THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING drops Jan. 16