Song of the Day: Dilly Dally - The Touch

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “The Touch” by Dilly Dally from their 2015 album, Sore, on Partisan Records.

Dilly Dally - The Touch (MP3)

While the phrase itself means "to move or act too slowly," the rise of Toronto based band Dilly Dally has been anything but. On their debut album, Sore, the band transform their love of '90s bands like The Pixies and Nirvana into a dynamic, powerful set of songs, punctuated by the ragged, raw vocals of frontwoman Katie Monks.

Today's KEXP Song of the Day is particularly special. Monks explained to Stereogum, "I wrote this song for a friend of mine who was having suicidal thoughts. I felt this huge sense of urgency, and wanted to nurture him in anyway I possible could: sexually, emotionally, and then finally realized that I could help him through music. It was all very instinctual. The song attempts to reach him in his dark place, and then lure him away from there. The chorus in this song is very sweet and gentle. It is meant to be comforting and remind him of romance and the softness of a woman’s touch. If that isn’t enough to live for, than I don’t know what is."

Dilly Dally were just in Seattle last month, and will be heading to the UK in early 2016. Follow the band on Twitter and Facebook, and check out this video, directed by David Waldman, a Toronto-based music photographer of over ten years.