Pure Noise Records – 17 May 2023
After spending teasing their time in a Nashville studio over the last few months and releasing the covers EP (Doom and Gloom Sessions), Los Angeles downers Spanish Love Songs have announced the release of their fourth LP, No Joy. The album is their second effort for Pure Noise. Pre-orders are up now at the link below (choose either US, Europe, or Canada from the main page and then pre-order on that next page).
Along with the announcement comes a lead single called “Haunted”. SLS has slowly evolved over the years from the recently-divorced Menzingers cosplay of Giant Sings the Blues to the Wonder Years-esque bummercore of Schmaltzbefore leaning into the bleak prospects of Millenial fortunes on their current opus Brave Faces Everyone.
During the pandemic, SLS reimagined the ten tracks of Brave Faces Everyone as synthy, acoustic anthems on Brave Faces, Etc. This approach seems to have been a signal that the band's sound was changing, as “Haunted” wouldn't sound out of place as a bonus. The guitars are jangly and soaked in reverb, while the snare is piercing—certainly more prominent than the three preceding LPs. The synth really ties the song together by helping to blend the drums, guitars and vocals together.
And the lyrics? Man, singer Dylan Slocumb needs to get out of my head. I need more than one hand to count the times I've needed to pull over because of the crushing weight of one of their songs — whether it was “Paper Cup”, “Otis/Carl” or the absolute sucker punch that is “Dolores”.
I'd speculate that this song is about watching a friend descend into drug abuse and ultimately distribution. This tale, previously explored on Brave Faces' “Kick”, seems even starker in the absence of an accompanying major key. Slocumb paints pictures of the impending overdoses and sickness from smuggling drugs in plastic bellies.
And in the last chorus, when the protagonist asks, “When you're feeling like a ghost would you come haunt me please?”
Fuck me. Craig Finn wishes he could tease tales of redemption like this. This is going to be a good bad record.
- Favorite Song: Only if applicable
- Song Comes From: No Joy
- Album Release Date: 23 Aug 2023
- Purchase/Pre-Order/Pre-Save: Current links (that we have) are solely for the Pure Noise site in the USA.
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the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He's lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.
