Downtown Boys are sharing “Sirena,” the empowered-by-the-ancestors new single from Public Luxury, today on all digital streaming services. It is accompanied by an official video directed by Sarah Elawad, a visual artist known for work responding to issues including Sudan’s ongoing and underreported war, and who created the immediately iconic blooming-flower early-voting animation for Zohran Mamdani’s campaign.
“Sirena” is often translated as “mermaid” or “mythical temptress.” Here on Public Luxury, it is about a literal calling: a siren, a voice, a compass to help navigate an incredibly complicated and messy world. “Sirena” is inspired by one of singer Victoria Marie’s late grandmother’s favorite songs, “Gema,” written by Los Dandys and reenvisioned by many, including Javier Solis and Vicente Fernández.
Band member Victoria Marie elaborates further on the song and music video:
“Sirena” brings together both earthly and divine concepts of what drives, moves, and calls us to action bigger than ourselves. Sirena is often translated from Spanish into English as “mermaid”. The idea of a sirena as a guiding body essentially bending gravity and drawing one to the liminal space, whether it is where water meets sand or where our desire for a world where we are all free meets the reality that we have a lot of work to do. We are honored to have a video by Sarah Elawad that takes sublime archival footage that beautifully bends the mundanity of the time it takes for a flower to grow or a horse to race. We envision this song as a reminder that all of us have that siren in the form of a person, idea, dream, or gem that reflects light in darkness. The lyrics are an ode to the siren: |
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La gema
La joya
Divina
Preciosa
Las olas no se mienten
Las ojos no se engañan
Ya tenía en la mente
Hacia atrás al frente |
The gem
The jewel
Divine
Precious The waves never lie
The eyes don’t deceive
I’ve had her on my mind
And she goes back to front |
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| Downtown Boys’ live dates for summer 2026 begin Tuesday, June 23rd in Hamden, CT at Space Ballroom and run through Friday, July 25th in Burlington, VT at Foam Brewers. The band supports Gang of Four in June, followed by headline shows in July. Downtown Boys have also scheduled two shows for September in Buffalo (Sep. 25th) and Mississauga, ON (Sep. 26th). Additional shows will be announced soon. Please find a full list of dates below.
Tue. Jun. 23 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom*
Wed. Jun. 24 - Holyoke, MA - Holyoke Media^
Thu. Jun. 25 - Woodstock, NY - Bearsville Theater*
Fri. Jun. 26 - Willimantic, CT - St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Sat. Jun. 27 - Portland, ME - State Theater*
Sun. Jun. 28 - East Greenwich, RI - Odeum*
Wed. Jul. 15 - Columbus, OH - Spacebar #
Thu. Jul. 16 - Detroit, MI - Third Man Records #
Sat. Jul. 18 - Cleveland, OH - Happy Dog #
Sun. Jul. 19 - Pittsburgh, PA - Bottlerocket Social Hall #
Tue.Jul. 21 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s #
Wed. Jul. 22 - Washington, DC - DC9 Nightclub #
Thu. Jul. 23 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby’s All Right %
Fri. Jul. 24 - Somerville, MA - NICE, A Fest
Sat. Jul. 25 - Burlington, VT - Foam Brewers
Fri. Sep. 25 - Buffalo, NY - Rec Room
Sat. Sep. 26 - Mississauga, ON - Second Summer Festival
* with Gang of Four
# with Pop Music Fever Dream
^ with Perennial
% with Ratas en Zelo |
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Public Luxury will be available on CD/LP/Digital from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com in North America, Mega Mart Europe in the UK and EU, and your local record store will receive the limited Loser edition on ocean blue (North America) and pearl arctic (UK/EU) vinyl (while supplies last). Downtown Boys have pushed relentlessly forward as an artistic and political project since their founding. Singer Victoria Marie and guitarist/singer Joey La Neve DeFrancesco first met at union meetings while working together at a hotel in Providence, RI, writing many of the band’s early songs about labor organizing and exploitative workplaces. The quintet is completed by Joe DeGeorge (sax/synth), Mary Jane Regalado (bass), and Joey Doubek (drums). Over years of touring and three acclaimed albums, including Full Communism in 2015 and Cost of Living, their Sub Pop debut in 2017, Downtown Boys have continued to grow as artists, musicians, and organizers. Now, the band has arrived with Public Luxury, an enthralling album that keeps politics front and center while summoning the band’s most urgent and powerful sound to date. The definition of Public Luxury falls very much in line with that of the title of the band’s second LP, Full Communism. Straight up, Public Luxury means, “everything for everyone.” It’s the stubborn insistence that a better world is possible, while fully recognizing the horrors we witness daily, and the individual and collective responsibility to resist the nihilism and hopelessness we can all feel. Public Luxury was co-produced by DeFrancesco with recording engineer and longtime Downtown Boys supporter Seth Manchester (Lambrini Girls, Lightning Bolt, Model/Actriz) at the Pawtucket, RI studio and arts space Machines With Magnets. The album was mastered by Heba Kadry. Read more about Public Luxury here. What People Are Saying About Downtown Boys:
“…an incendiary dance-punk jam with cranked-up industrial drum machines and guttural riffage.” [“You’re A Ghost”] STEREOGUM
“…a strident, anthemic ripper.” [“You’re A Ghost”] BROOKLYN VEGAN
“‘No Me Jodas’ is the kind of cry that we need in these dark times, and Downtown Boys delivers the message with a rebellious sneer and shout-along energy. “ Remezcla
“defiant new single.” [“No Me Jodas”] DORK
“…a snarling rager and playful pit-starter simultaneously.” [“No Me Jodas”] FLOOD
“…packing their incandescent energy into a three-minute blast.” [“No Me Jodas”] CLASH
“It begins slowly, suffocatingly, with the saxophone pressing on the chest, like a dark omen of what’s to come. But it soon transforms into a trotting, Costelli-esque surf-punk that carries you on the waves with that touch of optimism the band refuses to lose. That’s where urgency and a certain hope join hands, defiantly.” [“No Me Jodas”] Rockdelux |
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Downtown Boys
Public Luxury
1. No Me Jodas
2. The City Begins
3. Sirena
4. Yellow Sun
5. Viva La Rosa
6. Enemy Without
7. You’re a Ghost
8. Albuterol
9. Mi Concha
10. Public Works
11. Public Luxury
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