Just a couple of years ago, it would’ve seemed — well, maybe not unthinkable, but certainly a little unexpected for Merchandise and Dum Dum Girls to show up on a song together. But hey, here we are, and isn’t this a nice place to be? Last year’s magnificent After The End was both Merchandise’s big pop move and their best work yet, an album that took the dark new-romantic heart they’d only hinted at on previous releases and pumped it full of enough John Hughes soundtracks to make it beat, to turn them from Ally Sheedy at the beginning of The Breakfast Club to Ally Sheedy at the end of The Breakfast Club (except without all of the #problematic baggage that that entails). Dum Dum Girls don’t necessarily mine the same set of influences, but they rely on a similarly retro goth-pop glamor. And yes, now the two have combined forces on a new 7″ single, the a-side to which is “Red Sun,” a moody track that rests on a pulsing, sinister synth line and arid guitar. Dee Dee handles the verses, playing some sort of man-eating desert siren, while Carson Cox jumps in on the chorus. Listen below.

“Red Sun” b/w “Echo” is out 11/27 on Sub Pop.

[Photo by Catie Laffoon]