dog eyes Share "sink," Their First Song Since blue bird rain cloud
dog eyes released "sink" on November 3, 2026, their first new music since the blue bird rain cloud EP in July 2025. The Bay Area indie folk duo of Hailey Firstman and Davis Leach paired it with a video directed by Clayton Stansberry.
What "sink" is about
Firstman frames the song around hope that outstays its welcome. Her words, from the release:
"'sink' reckons with how hope can keep you in the wrong place for a long time. 'Wish I could say a hundred reasons why, I love you. Wish I could say you're more than rain and stars above you,' but it crescendos with, 'I can't lie to you, babe.' We can wish those things till the sun goes down but that does not make them true."
Her reading turns on that last lyric. In her telling, the song is about the gap between what you wish you could say and what you can honestly say, and "I can't lie to you, babe" is where that gap closes.
The release says the track "takes a more organic approach" than the EP, which "saw the band experiment with a range of glitchy electronics." It points to "an achingly beautiful vocal performance from Firstman, abetted by some subtly left field production choices and a sweeping string synth."
dog eyes, "sink" (Official Music Video)
The video and the credits
The official video went up on the band's YouTube channel, and its description says it was "Directed, shot, and edited by Clayton Stansberry." That is one name across three jobs. The credits behind New Constellations' "Evergreen" video spread much wider, with IMVDb listing a separate director, director of photography, producers and colorist. The description also reads "Produced by fourleaf" under the video credits. For the song itself, Apple Music's credits list dog eyes as producer and Jennafer Kintner as co-producer.
Where dog eyes come from
Firstman and Leach met at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, per the East Bay Express, which covered their 2024 album holy friend and described its songs as blending "folk, rock, pop and experimental elements." The paper also reported that the pair put out their first effort together, good, proper send off, digitally on their Bandcamp page during the pandemic lockdown, and that holy friend was recorded in the Oakland home Leach shares with friends. The lowercase name is deliberate. "We also prefer using all lowercase letters for our dog eyes band name, album and song titles," Firstman told the paper. "We think it makes things come off a little softer."
The band's label bio says that on the blue bird rain cloud EP, the duo were "far more interested in the pain and purity of the mundane." "sink" picks up that thread with one plainly stated admission.