In 2018 Vex Red were one of only a handful of artists to be personally invited by Robert Smith of The Cure to play his Meltdown Festival at London’s Southbank Centre. A new single, "Tarantula", was released in July 2019 and the band announced details of a new EP, "Give Me the Dark", to be released on 4 October 2019, of which "Tarantula" is the second single. The third and final single, "Air", was made available in late November of the same year. The band promoted their new EP with a UK only 6-date headline tour in February 2020, during which they were supported by math rock/grunge act Sœur.