Devin Guisande, better known as Kyd the Band, announced a new single, “Heartbreak Anthem” on Friday to release his upcoming EP, Season 2: Character Development.
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Previously a duo of the Guisande brothers, Devin, maintained Kyd the Band as his solo brand after the two parted in 2017. Season 2: Character Development is the logical follow up to the artist’s solo debut, Season 1: The Intro, because he feels his music evolves with phases of his life. Season one covers his childhood and upbringing, what defined him as a breakout artist. Season two delves into the implications of The Intro, coming into adulthood and navigating the bi-product results of his childhood as it pertains to the “real world.”
Kyd the Band teamed up with his previous collaborator, gnash, for this single. The two first wrote “pajamas” together, a track for gnash’s debut album. After waiting for the right time, this track seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring gnash in, both sonically and conceptually.
“Songs for me have to come out of my story and my life, and I’ll never put out something that doesn’t come from me,” the songwriter-turned-artist explained. “Collaborations have to have the same authenticity for me and be with someone who I have a real attachment to. Any songs that don’t fit those parameters might be right for someone else.”
His latest single started with just a guitar riff and a vocal. With the help of producers Sean Small and Sam Sumser, “Heartbreak Anthem” is perfectly blended to reminisce on his early work in terms of production, while lyrically looking ahead on what is to come. It references the importance of community by exploring the societal obsession with breakup songs, and the unity shared pain can often provide. In doing so, it is the perfect announcement track to introduce listeners to the second season of Kyd the Band.
His new EP is slated for release on May 29th via Sony Music. Collectively the EP marks a leap in the solo career pf Kyd the Band. He is most excited to share one of the previously released tracks on his EP, “Human.” “Writing that song gave me faith that I can do this music thing on my own, and it helped me feel something for the first time in a long time,” the young artist shared proudly of this accomplishment.
Kyd the Band is Nashville-based, by way of Los Angeles, after leaving his childhood in the strict Pentecostal church behind to pursue his music when he was 19. His current situation is a stark contrast to his previously imagined life as a preacher. He was forbidden from consuming any movies or secular music. From his discovery of Kanye West at 18 to his latest release, his evolution as an artist has been unimaginably quick.
“I grew up on black gospel music, artists like Kirk Franklin and The Winans and Donnie McClurkin. That music is what I learned to play drums to, sing to, and feel to. It gave me a sense of rhythm that I use in everything from melodic phrasing and production. That music also made me want to make only music that’s real and music that triggers real emotion,” Kyd the Band explained of his early influence.
Given the nature of the church, community is of the utmost importance to him. The pandemic has made that especially difficult. He has leaned heavily into social media to continue to engage with his audience and create a space of inclusion, a continuous intention of his.
“I’m nothing without the people who support me and my music,” Kyd the Band remarked. “They’ve given me a place to belong. And a live music setting is the main avenue for that in my opinion. In that room, people are coming for various reasons and circumstances under which they came across the music. But there’s a unity that blankets everyone together.”
Listen to “Heartbreak Anthem” and look out for more to come from Kyd the Band on May 29th.
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