With The Dead Will Walk, Dear, Jacob Thomas Berns will be the first to admit that he draws equal inspiration from ?80s slasher films as well as Southern Gothic literature, and these songs have a disconcerting sense of horror that builds with repeated listening. Like all love stories, there are moments of exultation and discovery, sensuality and wonder, and the songs are haunting and wistful, the vocals upfront and as intimate as a confession. The Dead Will Walk, Dear is about small American towns, rivers and fields and falling in love. But these towns hide secrets, the landscape hides graves.