Letters Sent Home, a German quartet, have recently announced a new single, “I hope I die first.”, and their upcoming album, Forever Undone, which is set to be released on April 12, 2024, via SharpTone Records. This album is highly anticipated by fans and also features their two previous singles, “Request Denied” and “Elements”.

On Forever Undone, Emily shares, “We have been told that people mostly like our music due to relatability and personality in our songs. We believe to have pushed this to an extreme, for this album is as personal as it could possibly get. I am truly nervous about some of these songs being heard by certain people but writing this album has been very therapeutic in the way that I finally started dealing with stuff I have been consciously and subconsciously ignoring for the past years. The title “Forever Undone” came to mind after the album was already finished. It is a lyric out of a song that’s on the album and it summarizes every track in its very own way. We feel like you are never going to be done improving yourself or healing and there’s always going to be something that’s broken inside but that’s the beauty of life. It’s what makes us human.”

This four-piece came together in 2015 while at school in Germany’s northern countryside and became much more serious after members spent time studying in North America. Made up of Emily Paschke (vocals), Lara Ripke (bass), Robin Werner (guitar), and Louis Schramm (drums), Letters Sent Home is a mix of pop-punk, alt rock, and emo. 

“I hope I die first.” is the third single to be released from the Forever Undone tracklist, leaving eight others to be released with the album. This track is a powerful ballad about the hope of leaving this world before the one person you love more than anything. The lyrics become more and more relatable as you listen and once you put a face – of that one person in your life – to the song, it's all over. 

For “I hope I die first.” the band shares, “‘I hope I die first.’ is the first (and maybe last) ever love song we wrote. It is a love letter to the one person who gave me the strength to carry on and pretty much saved my life, but at the same time it portrays the toxicity of a codependent relationship. You can choose for yourself which side you want to see.”

Thirteen Magazine was curious about Letters Sent Home’s first, and possibly last, love song, as well as their upcoming album and plans for the future. We had the chance to chat with the band about all of this and more, read on below!

THIRTEEN: Hello Letters Sent Home! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview with us. Could you tell us a little bit more about you?

LETTERS SENT HOME: Hey! Thank you so much for having us! We are Emily (vocals), Lara (bass), Robin (guitar) and Louis (drums) from a band called Letters Sent Home from northern Germany and we cannot figure out what genre describes our music the best, so I guess you’ll just have to take a listen, haha.

THIRTEEN: How did the four of you come together to create Letters Sent Home?

LETTERS SENT HOME: We are a band from a small town in Northern Germany. Robin (guitar), Lara (bass) and me (Emily, vocals) know each other from school and started making music together in the form of covers in 2015. Lara and I left for an exchange year in the US a year later and when we got back we felt the urge to write our own music. Robin started his music studies at the same time so this was the start of Letters Sent Home.

Shortly after, Louis (drums) joined after we got to know him at a local show of his old band. This was such a blessing as we grew up in a countryside where you don’t find many musicians, especially young people wanting to be in a band and playing drums. Luckily, his former band was about to split up at this point so we introduced him as our youngest band member at the age of 15 back then.

THIRTEEN: It’s mentioned that “I hope I die first.” is the first, but possibly the last, love song you’ve wrote. Why? What is the story behind this single?

LETTERS SENT HOME: I (Emily) grew up with a weird relationship with love. I have always been super emotional but never been able to express those emotions. Even in songwriting I never could find the right words to talk about love and everything around it. I didn’t want it to be something that you have already heard a thousand times before. There are so many love songs out there already and I hated the idea of my “love story” just being one of a million. So, I never wrote about it. With “I hope I die first.” I, for the first time, had the urge to put into words what I was feeling and for the first time I was able to. I am a person who feels emotions very strongly, so the way I love is not only beauty but sometimes a lot of pain. Just the thought of having to live without the person I love breaks something inside of me. So,  I wanted to capture not only the beautiful side of love but also the way it hurts. I also wanted to include that too much love often turns into codependency which is quite dangerous. I guess the reason why I think this might just be our first and last love song is because I have now told my story and I don’t think I need to tell it twice. But you never know.

THIRTEEN: The release of “I hope I die first.” also came with the announcement of your next album, Forever Undone. What can you share about this project?

LETTERS SENT HOME: We cannot wait for this album to be released, we have been in the writing process for these songs for about two years now. The album is deeply personal. We were sick of writing about mental health in a metaphorical manner and wanted to put it on a more personal level. Talking about mental health in general is very important but we have just talked about it so much already, we wanted to give other topics a stage now. With this album, we wanted to be as transparent as possible. So, this album tells different stories of my life that I have never told before. It also portrays the hopelessness and helplessness of the younger generations. Musically we knew we needed to add more energy and attitude than we have before. We think this album perfectly portrays us with all our musical influences and personalities.

THIRTEEN: “Request Denied” and “Elements” are two other tracks you’ve already released from Forever Undone. How do you feel these three singles represent the LP?

LETTERS SENT HOME: We intentionally chose those three singles to be the first ones because we think it perfectly represents the different musical elements that are found in this album. On the album, you will be able to find a few songs that are more on the pop-punk side like “Request Denied” but also just as much electronic and pop influences as you can hear in “Elements”. “I hope I die first.” represents the album really well because it is a first insight into how deeply personal the album will be.

THIRTEEN: Emily, you stated that the title Forever Undone best describes each track in its own way. Can you explain this further with “I hope I die first.”, “Request Denied”, and “Elements”? 

LETTERS SENT HOME: The album title Forever Undone basically means that we and the world are never complete. We don’t have a finish line we will run through. There is always something in us that is undone or broken that needs healing or evolution. You’ll find this theme in every song on the album. “Request Denied” deals with depression and how it never really just goes away, so I just deal with it. I am “forever undone” in how this part of me will never fully heal. In “Elements'' we focus on nature and how humankind destroys what’s left of its beauty. Continuing to do so, the home we live in will forever be undone. “I hope I die first.” shows how a love story is forever undone and never a hundred percent perfect.

THIRTEEN: Out of your entire discography, which song do you think best describes Letters Sent Home as a group?

LETTERS SENT HOME: This is a really hard question because each song sounds so very different and we love them all. But, if we had to summarize all our individual preferences it would probably be “Misery Loves Company”.

THIRTEEN: What is a piece of advice that you’ve carried with you throughout your music career?

LETTERS SENT HOME: I think some advice that we always try to live by is to appreciate the little things. Sometimes you focus too much on your destination that you lose focus of the little steps that get you there. We try to memorize these little steps as much as we can.

THIRTEEN: What plans or goals do you have for 2024?

LETTERS SENT HOME: Obviously, we are so very excited for our debut album, Forever Undone, to drop and for everything that comes with that. We also can’t wait to play as much live as we possibly can. We already have quite a few support shows booked and are about to announce two special album release headline shows but we’re hoping and planning to play more gigs throughout the year.