DC Legends Beauty Pill Share New Single “Perfect Day”

If there’s one through-line to Beauty Pill’s output over the last 20 years, it’s an absolute refusal to do what’s expected of them. That’s kept the DC indie band a vital force throughout lineup changes and stylistic twists and turns, but it might not have been what the producers of Better Call Saul were counting on when they asked the band for a song for the show. Bandleader Chad Clark envisioned their take on the Harry Nilsson classic “Perfect Day” as “a ‘vintage futuristic’ sci-fi style somewhat similar to Wendy Carlos.” The producers ultimately turned it down, but Vince Gilligan’s loss is our gain. Clark and Co just dropped the song as a single backed with a remixed take on their 2021 state-of-the-apocalypse anthem “Instant Night.” Tapping the full band on vocals, “Perfect Day” indulges in Clark’s habit of pulling beauty from the most unexpected sounds. Surrounded by swirling synths and massive harmonies, the song builds from scattered analog squiggles to a mutated beat beneath one of the only guitar solos in the band’s catalog. It’s absolutely stunning, and not at all what you’d expect from the band, which is to say, it’s also sort of exactly what to expect from them.

Beauty Pill’s been on a bit of a creative high lately following the release of their early Dischord Records retrospective Blue Period and a deluxe vinyl reissue of their 2017 masterpiece Describes Things As They Are. They’ve reportedly been at work on their next record, which cannot come soon enough.

With characteristic humility, Clark says of the new single: “‘Perfect Day’ is a failed commission for the producers of the show “Better Call Saul.” It is a cover of the lushly romantic 1977 Harry Nilsson tune. The intent was inclusion in the score for an episode of the last season of the show. The failure was ours. When asked to do the song for the show, we chose to reimagine it in a “vintage futuristic” sci-fi style somewhat similar to Wendy Carlos. Why? Who knows. Artists are weird sometimes. It seemed an exciting choice at the time. Obviously, it was a mistake. It was duly rejected by the producers of the show. However, we think result is still valid and we have decided to share it with you in the form of a bandcamp single.”

Follow Beauty Pill on socials @BeautyPill for more.