Following the “Atypical” and “Dirty Thoughts” singles which have already dropped this year, L.A.-based project Bonnie X Clyde are releasing “Love is Killing Me,” with tentative plans to put out an album in the fall (pandemic allowing). The track, they say, is a love song but the themes can also be applied to other life experiences. For Daniel Litman and Paige Lopynski, it’s about their desire to keep making music.

“It’s kind of a juxtaposition on love, because the song is all about dealing with the pain of loving something so much, and what we deal with on a regular basis as artists which is we love what we’re doing so much and we work really hard to create these songs,” says Lopynski. “When we put it out, we’re expecting a certain response but regardless of the response, I feel like we just continue to keep working on music because we love it so much.”

The tunes they put out this year mark a clear progression for the two producers and DJs. The music is more commercial, sure. That’s no bad thing as they look to appeal to a broader audience. In addition, the production is lush and layered. It’s all very deliberate.

I think the huge thing that’s obviously different, especially when we first started this project even before While We Were Young, is we’re getting better as producers and songwriters,” says Litman. “When we first started putting out music and starting to get recognition for our music, I would even say that our music wasn’t that crazy or anything, it’s just that we got really lucky. Now, I feel like our music is professional. Obviously we’ve spent five years doing this so it sounds better on that level. On another level, we just have more perspective now. What we’re writing about, how we choose to approach some things compared to before. It’s just more complex and different, because we’re different people than we were five years ago.”

The pair have been working hard in lockdown, though the fact that they’ve had to remain in one place — unusual for them — is taking a mental toll.

Our personalities as performers and DJs — our mentality is very go-go-go,” says Lopynski. “Next place, next place. It’s definitely taken a toll. Mentally, we’re at a standstill, like we haven’t gone anywhere and that’s not normal for us. But it allows everyone to readjust what their goals are.”

They can’t wait to get going again once lockdown is lifted, but they won’t take any chances.

I don’t think we’ll play any shows until we’re free and clear,” says Litman. “I don’t want to put any of our fans at risk. A lot of DJs are going to approach it like this, depending on the need for money and how much quasi-DJing there is to be had. We’ve already had opportunities to play shows, in Florida and stuff. We just turned them down because we’re not trying to put fans at risk, or be an experiment for earlier opening.”

Smart. For now, enjoy the tunes online and look out for the new one  in June.

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