Flowers For The Dead Share "First Place"

Rising Washington, DC-trio Flowers For The Dead today announced the band’s new EP First Place, which will be released on August 1, 2025. The follow up to their 2024 album Magnolia–also produced by Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr., Wild Pink, Sasami)–the EP’s four songs find guitarist/vocalist Jessie Szegö, bassist Ella Buskirk, and drummer Ten Bears fully coming into their own as they expand their sound over a crisp nine minutes. They’ve also shared the simmering, sidewinding video, directed by Jeremy Burgos. “With ‘First Place,’ we tried to challenge ourselves in writing something void of embellishments or frills,” explains Szegö of the song, “when you take a step back and really see something fundamentally for what it is.” The First Place EP is now available for pre-save.

Flowers For The Dead will head out on an east coast/midwest tour in anticipation of the EP next month, concluding with a hometown EP release show at DC’s Comet Ping Pong on August 1. The run also includes a show at New York City’s Berlin Under A on July 22. A full itinerary is below and tickets are on sale now.

After leaning into the noise on Magnolia, the First Place EP finds Flowers For The Dead experimenting with a softer, more intentional sound while examining the pursuit and politics of community, friendship, and love. The title recalls a vintage pin—pictured on the cover art—that proclaims “1st prize big shot.” This absurd notion of being a proud egoist captures the sly humor of an EP filled with “sarcastic screw you songs” faintly tinged with hope, all beaming with the shared assurance of a band finding their own identity.

Flowers for the Dead began in 2021 as an outlet for Szegö and has evolved into a threesome with the addition of Buskirk and Ten Bears. “’First Place’ is collaborative and more representative of us as a group, rather than just my own brain. I think it’s an evolution and you can really hear it in the confidence of our playing,” says Szegö. “We aren’t afraid to take up less space–having our instrumentation be bare-bones has helped us have our songwriting speak for itself, without all the frills and embellishments of distorted shoegaze.”

In January 2025, the band—all in their early 20s—headed to Massachusetts to record the four songs with Pizzoferrato, known for his work with their alt-rock heroes like Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth members Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore. This time, they were able to book more studio time, which allowed the music to evolve during the recording process. One song to emerge from the sessions was “Thorn,” an understated last-minute addition pulled from Szegö’s collection of voice memos. “I wanted to see if we could remove the sounds that we’re known for—distortion, reverb, wall of sound type stuff—and still write a song that leaves an impact,” she says of the experiment, which helped her to understand that there’s no predetermined Flowers sound: “If the three of us make it, it’s gonna sound like us.”