Vampire Valentine announced themselves to the world on Valentine's Day, 2026, and they did not arrive quietly.

"Tears" is the first single from the Pale Dawn EP, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. Dark and deliberate, the track sits firmly in the modern darkwave tradition while carving out a sound that is unmistakably their own. The band put it plainly when asked why they chose this track to lead with: "We think this is our sound and we're sticking to it. We want people to hear it."

The song circles a shared dark past between two people, the kind neither wants to revisit but neither can fully escape. Burning old photos while a favourite song plays on the radio. A single tear. A single word that raises the heart rate. The kind of quiet devastation that hits harder than anything loud.

"Tears" was produced by Ricky Conover and Tony Gunk, with additional production from Michael Longstaff. Blake Carpenter handled mixing and mastering. The result is a track that sounds exactly as heavy as it feels.

Pale Dawn is out now on all platforms and available on CD and digital at morellarecords.com.