Kelcey Ayer details forthcoming solo release, No Sleep EP

The announcement of the forthcoming No Sleep EP – which features the likes of Young Jesus, Steady Holiday, Alejandro Aranda, and more – is heralded by the arrival of new single, "Ghosts of Neighborhood Dogs" featuring Jordana. The track is his third release since leaving Local Natives last year.

Speaking of his collaboration with Jordana, Ayers says: "Last piece of the puzzle was finding someone to sing it with, since I’d always felt it should be a duet. I’d become fast friends with Jordana when she opened for Local Natives a few years ago. Despite her being quite a bit younger than me, her musical talent and voice feels so timeless, so last summer I asked her to try it and she crushed it in a couple hours. She’s a superstar and I’m so grateful to have had her join me on this song."

"My wife and I moved to Highland Park in 2019, and since we walk our dog twice a day, it forced us to get to know our new neighborhood really quickly," Ayer says of the song's origins.

"There was this Doberman named Diesel who barked bloody murder at us every day we walked by his house for about 3 years straight. At first it was terrifying, but then we made a game out of it, saying silly things, singing him Happy Birthday, whatever we thought of at the time. Then all of a sudden he was gone. It was eerily quiet from then on, and we could swear we still heard his barks for months after. The song imagines me telling Diesel’s story to our son Oskar who was born after Diesel passed away, as a way of getting him to know our home, our neighborhood, and our history."