Lacanau-based emo/screamo duo Don’t Sink Twice return with their second single “My Place is a Mess,” premiering alongside a self-produced music video right here on IDIOTEQ!
The track doubles as a preview for their upcoming EP of the same name, due out September 5, and extends the band’s raw, DIY-driven vision—written, recorded, mixed, and mastered entirely by the duo.
The song builds a metaphor around domestic disorder as a reflection of inner chaos. “It’s about the struggle with self-confidence, the discomfort in your own skin, and the fear of starting something new when you’re still sorting through your own mess,” the band explains. The lyrics carry that weight directly:
“I’d like to let you in but my place is a mess / Picturing well enough my present mental state / Not the right time, such a bad time to have you as my guest / Please don’t get upset.”
The tension is sustained through a confessional tone that stays clear of melodrama. Instead, it moves through a landscape of restraint and quiet turbulence: soft twinkly textures bleed into bursts of distortion, mirroring a kind of emotional claustrophobia. The instrumentation remains minimal but deliberate—designed to expand far beyond the limitations of a duo through extensive use of loopers and effects, especially in their live setup.
By the time the second verse emerges—“As much as I’d like us two lying in my bed / I can’t find the courage to reach out for your hand”—the vulnerability is unshielded, not performative.
The band threads through personal doubt, anxiety, and the longing for connection with a subtle intensity, not unlike early Touché Amoré or La Dispute.
References to Foxing, Delta Sleep, and Lysistrata also inform the broader sonic territory they’re exploring: part emo, part post-hardcore, carried by an undercurrent of math-influenced rhythm and phrasing.
The project began in 2023, formed by Tom and Florent—both music educators at Rockschool Médoc. Before launching Don’t Sink Twice, they played together in a pop/rock cover band named Tosca (which still continues locally), and Tom had previously been part of an emo/math rock act called Owls. In Don’t Sink Twice, those earlier influences reappear but with sharpened emotional intent. Tom brought in the heavier screamo textures inspired by bands like Daïtro, while Florent’s rhythmic backbone provides dynamic shifts that steer the songs between hesitation and outburst.
That push-and-pull is embedded in the lyrics of “My Place is a Mess”:
“’Cause I’m not ready yet / To open myself / To anyone else / Again.”
The refrain captures a particular kind of stasis—wanting intimacy but rejecting it at the door, not out of apathy but out of fear. The second half of the song takes that anxiety deeper:
“I don’t feel comfortable in my own skin / In my own skin / In my own skin / In my own skin.”
In both form and content, Don’t Sink Twice lean toward honesty without dramatics. “We like you like that, like you like that, you don’t need to change,” the song’s guest says, but the narrator pulls away. The discomfort is unresolved, and that’s the point.
The single’s release also marks a key moment in the band’s trajectory. After a series of demos on Bandcamp and their debut single “Never Enough” in April, “My Place is a Mess” announces a more defined chapter.
The EP, sharing the single’s title, will include four tracks and be made available in a pay-what-you-want format ahead of its official release via Bandcamp. Each early version will be tied to hand-made screen prints sold at shows—a move that fits the band’s fully self-managed ethos, from booking to visuals, which are created by Tom.
Live shows are also central to their plans. The band plans a handful of gigs in April, followed by more in the fall after the EP release. A third single and several live sessions are expected in early August as additional teasers.
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The band name itself—Don’t Sink Twice—is a reflection of their internal mission: to acknowledge darkness without giving in to it. “It’s a reminder not to let yourself drown in your thoughts or fall into despair,” they say, playing on the phrase “don’t think twice” with a subtle shift toward survival.
