Model Child Set To Release New EP, Shares “Pilot”

Model Child announces the May 7 release of his new EP Unscrewed and drops the hyperactive debut single “Pilot.” A collaboration between LA-based songwriter/musician Danny Parker (aka Model Child) and celebrated producer Rusty Santos (Panda Bear, Animal Collective, Owen Pallet, DJ Rashad), Unscrewed takes the grunge/pop sound from his debut album Dropout and injects it with high-speed, electro-punk elements.

“The voice in ‘Pilot’ comes from a bloodthirsty warmonger directing a fighter pilot on their mission to drop bombs,” explains Parker. “The music is hopped up on amphetamines with synths and hyperactive guitars darting and swooping in and out of the track. A mixture of electronic and organic drums blast the song forward.” He continues, “In the chorus I shout, ‘Blood is raining gold across the room/Million dollar chains tied to your tomb.’ During war, the deaths of innocent people often puts money into the pockets of the powerful. I struggle with this sad reality. I can’t wait for the day I get to go back on stage and scream this song with the crowd in solidarity, mourning the victims of so many unjust wars.”

Danny Parker has penned smash hits for Jessie Ware, Nick Jonas and Shawn Mendes and worked with acclaimed indie acts including Surfbort, Claud, Hatchie and Dave Sitek, but Dropout proved him as a multi-dimensional artist who thrives in a space somewhere outside the lines. “There are plenty of people who use the same formula over and over again and are incredible at that formula, but I don’t have much of an interest in that at this moment,” he explains. “I’ve been writing for other people for so long and am oftentimes forced to stick to the ‘Top 40 Pop Formula,’ which has so many limitations on what you can say, the kind of sounds you can make, and the way you can express yourself. It’s freeing to let that go when I’m making Model Child songs.”

From the sticky guitar jam “Strawberry Bowl” to the explosive “Animal Noise” to the scuzzy summer anthem “Drain Me,” Dropout is a ripper of a debut album that garnered high praise from the press. But if Dropout showcased a taste for gnarly guitar-riffs and spiky, punk-laden drum beats, Unscrewed is like its experimental cousin. Assembled over the course of four days in the studio with Santos, the new EP is a fast-paced, no holds barred collection of four songs that tackle everything from outrage at the state of our society to thoughtful musings on death and rebirth.
“I listened to a lot of the music Rusty was making back when I was still living in Virginia. The bands he was working with changed my conception of what music could be,” says Parker. “There was this reverence for experimentation that was so exciting to me. There’s freedom in letting your imagination carry you wherever it wants to go when you’re making music.”
Unscrewed follows Model Child’s recent single “Icicles,” which Queerty called “a weird and erotic synth single in the vein of both Nine Inch Nails and The Cure at their most intense.”