Deafheaven dropped a surprise EP this morning, two days before they hit Del Mar. The new Deafheaven EP, “At Work in the Fields of the Bomb,” is out now on Roadrunner, three songs with a short film for opener “Hunter.” The band plays The Sound at the Del Mar Fairgrounds with Mastodon and Alcest this Sunday, Oct. 11, so the new songs land right on top of their San Diego-area date.
The Deafheaven EP: three songs, 23 minutes
- “Hunter”
- “Three Princes”
- “Sorry Laid the Hearth”
Stereogum clocks the EP at three tracks in 23 minutes, closing with the 13-minute “Sorry Laid the Hearth.” Revolver reports it was recorded with producer Arthur Rizk and calls “Three Princes” the more ambient track. According to Pitchfork, it’s the band’s first new music since 2025’s “Lonely People With Power,” and unlike that record, which featured Interpol’s Paul Banks and Boy Harsher’s Jae Matthews, it has no guests.
Deafheaven had hinted at how heavy it would be. Last month, guitarist Kerry McCoy told the Spanish site Binaural that the new record would be both “the heaviest” and “the hardest” thing the band had done, as Stereogum reported. The first write-ups agree. Consequence says “Hunter” sits closer to “Beherit or Immortal” than to the band’s earlier touchstones, and Revolver sums it up as “Raw, uncaged, steely-eyed stuff.”
Where the title comes from
The name and concept come from photographer Robert Del Tredici’s 1987 book “At Work in the Fields of the Bomb,” which documented the production of nuclear weapons, per Pitchfork. The band’s press release, as published by Consequence, explains the idea:
The EP explores the unsettling contrast between the unimaginable consequences of the bomb and the mundane actions that make such destruction possible, focusing on the choices and systems that lead us toward irreversible moments.
Deafheaven press release, via Consequence
The release goes on to say the EP “considers how catastrophe can emerge from seemingly ordinary details—and how, once extinction becomes possible, there is ultimately no one left to witness it.”
Watch the “Hunter” short film
The official film for “Hunter” is up on Deafheaven’s YouTube channel. Nico Poalillo directed it, and the cinematographer is Janusz Kamiński, who won Oscars for “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan,” per Stereogum. Pitchfork and Revolver both credit vocalist George Clarke with a hand in making the film. Revolver describes it as an interpretive dance between one person and three nylon-masked figures, the same figures that appear on the EP cover.
Deafheaven EP songs in Del Mar?
The songs have already been on the road. Stereogum reports that Deafheaven have played “Hunter” live since their Chicago show last week, and that’s also when “At Work in the Fields of the Bomb” vinyl showed up at the merch table. Nobody has posted a setlist for Sunday, so there’s no promise you’ll hear it in Del Mar. The band webstore lists the EP on CD and black, poppy and superbloom vinyl.
Del Mar is the tour’s last California stop, after Oakland tonight and the Hollywood Palladium Saturday. The Mastodon run then heads to Denver and wraps Oct. 22 in Atlanta, per Stereogum.
Mastodon, Deafheaven and Alcest show details
- Date: Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026
- Venue: The Sound, Del Mar Fairgrounds, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. It’s a Belly Up Presents show, but it’s not at the Belly Up
- Doors / show: 6 p.m. / 7 p.m.
- Tickets: $49.50 advance / $55 day of show general admission, $79.50 reserved seating, per Belly Up. Buy through TicketWeb, or skip the fees at The Sound’s box office when a show is happening there
- Ages: All ages; under-18s need a parent, guardian or authorized adult over 25, per the event listing
- Set times: Not announced
Make it a weekend: the San Diego Metal Swap Meet with Sanctuary is Saturday at Fall Brewing in Miramar, and Soulfly, Nailbomb and Incite hit Soda Bar Monday.
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