This week's menu we feature an American three-piece indie rock band from Chicago Dehd! The Chicago trio—bassist-vocalist Emily Kempf, guitarist-vocalist Jason Balla, and drummer Eric McGrady—have been releasing their lo-fi fusion of postpunk and garage folk since 2016. Dehd were defined early on by their fuzzed-out love songs—when the band formed in summer 2015, Kempf and Balla were already a couple. Though the two of them broke up in summer 2017, shortly after they began writing their breakout debut Water, the album wasn’t released until May 2019—which meant Kempf and Balla had to keep rehashing the writing and recording process and the terms of their split. The trio sound tightened up and reinvigorated on their sophomore full-length, though they haven’t sacrificed any of what Balla calls their “sloppy charm.” Love remains at the center of Dehd’s musical union: they negotiate its complexities through catchy tracks that capture the band’s growth in and out of the studio. Cousin Corey chats with Emily on this week's Blue Plate Special.