Del Water Gap explores the consequences of liquid courage on his latest single, “Purple Teeth, The Bravery.” The record marks the first release from the deluxe edition of the musician’s 2023 studio album I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left Yet, out Aug. 16.
“It’s a story about having enough red wine that you suddenly get all brave, and you’re spinning and pushing yourself around and saying a lot of shit you’ve been holding onto and hurting over,” Del Water Gap shared in a statement. “And you sleep it off, and you wake up in the morning and you can’t really remember what you said, but you look in the mirror and your teeth are still purple from the night before – and just like that, the guilt starts creeping in. The groundhog day of hurting and burying the hatchet, bottling up and boiling over again and again.”
The expanded version of the album will include a new addition titled “Midas” and builds on the original track list with a live recording of “Doll House,” which became a fan-favorite during the musician’s time on the road supporting Niall Horan.
I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left Yet collectively lean into the complexities of communication. On “Purple Teeth, The Bravery,” Del Water Gap tells a cautionary tale of the consequences of saying too much, while “Doll House” encourages someone else to unload their own burdens on him.
“I learned to communicate through inference much more than speaking, as a result of how I grew up. And I think that some of that has a bit to do with masculinity as well,” Del Water Gap told Rolling Stone last year. “As a man, I think I was raised with a slight pressure to let things just roll off my back, which maybe is less gendered than I’m referring to right now. But it’s something that I have been thinking about in my reflection on some of this over the last couple of years.”
He added: “It’s been a real practice in examining that and understanding, like, if someone says something that hurts, and you don’t say anything and you hold it, it’s gonna come back, somehow. It’s gonna be heavy on you a little bit. I’ve been trying to — rather than seeing avoiding conflict as an act of love — understand that communication is actually a greater act of love.”
