Kissed by an Animal is a Brooklyn based band started in 2018 by Dima Drjuchin and Jon Daily as a vehicle for Drjuchin’s growing collection of songs. Enlisting local bass hero Tsugumi Takashi, they played their first few years as a three piece which yielded their debut self titled LP on Handstand Records. For their record release they tapped fellow The Black Black guitar player Hiro Williams to fill in on second guitar. This clinched the band as a four piece going forward playing countless shows at their home base The East Williamsburg Econo Lodge and all over Brooklyn for the next few years. The pandemic break gave way to writing and recording a new LP I Don’t Have To Explain Myself To You. Released July 2022 on Handstand Records and EWEL Records, it saw the band grow and expand upon their psyche punk alt rock corner of the sonic landscape. With the addendum release of Songs About New York split 7” with Daily, Drjuchin, and William’s other band The Black Black in November on EWEL Records, Kissed by an Animal come locked and loaded with the soundtrack to the unknown.
“‘fucking hate songs about New York’—and isn’t this the most “New York” take one could take on songs about New York possible “ —The Deli Magazine
-
Dima Drjuchin
Vocals/Guitar
-
Jon F Daily
Drums/Vocals
-
Tsugumi Takashi
Bass/Vocals
-
Hiro Williams
Guitar/Vocals
“The Brooklyn band’s simultaneously thoughtful and party-friendly second full-length is both evidence of, and a tribute to, creativity and true originality and an invitation to be yourself”
— BandDoBK
“Crunchy power chords, big hooks, and searing guitar leads, all sprinkled with some chewy bits of sonic weirdness make this release a charming and strangely familiar listen.”
“Sitting squarely at the intersection of fuzzy lo-fi pop and 8th-wave slacker psych, Kissed by an Animal’s eponymous debut album is one of the best things to come out of the Brooklyn scene in recent memory.”
“Most of the songs sound like they are about drugs”
— Scene Point Blank