Los Angeles punk band Mermaid Island have shared a new video and final single ahead of their self-titled debut LP — ‘Panic Button’. The track is a slow-burning, folk-heavy ballad that explodes into an anthemic, powerful chorus, carrying the aggressive grit and biting lyricism that has made Mermaid Island a force in the LA underground.

Singer Alex MacDonald explains: “On the surface, this song is about being cryogenically frozen yet still conscious. Watching your loved ones grow old, wither away, and die without being able to communicate. At its core, it’s about fighting the painful realization of mortality and loss, and the desperate desire to connect. I’ve lost close friends that I think about every day and wish I could talk to. I feel like I’m constantly looking for a way to get a message through. Along with the finality of death comes this realization that all of the choices we make for our life along the way were permanent. This song almost didn’t make the record. I thought it was too slow and didn’t fit the band’s energy, but I was wrong. It turned out to be the emotional centerpiece, and it’s become a lot of people’s favorite song.”