Spectreview: Spirit Award – Currency [7”]

-LIGHT CORAL-

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“The cops don’t care about this town
Just wanna shoot another fucker down”

2019 is 15 years since the explosion of the New York underground, 20 years from the White Stripes De Stijl, enough time in general to approach the scope of 2000’s indie with a cafeteria tray in hands. Spirit Award are a psych-rock band but carry themselves like art punks, their smudged, cinematic aesthetic clearly recalling punk-tinged indie rock bands like Deerhunter, The Walkmen and DIIV. Currency, a new 7” dedicated to fighting homelessness in Seattle (25% of the proceeds go to Mary’s Place) is a clear representation of how the band works in this medium: two songs, two differing energies, both bathed in luxuriant production. “Mountain” is the harder of the two, laying down a classic post-punk bass riff and leaving enough space in its intro for the song to blast off. It’s Spirit Award in their natural environment, and while it’s nothing they haven’t done before, it’s a formula that still proves effective. The true highlight from this pair of new songs is the luxuriant, slow unspool of “Is It Enough?”, led by a hypnotizing piano melody that the band deftly builds an atmosphere around. Spirit Award are especially skilled at making their songs feels like mini-journeys, crafting buildups and knowing when to give their arrangements space, and this track in particular boasts that specific trait. Additionally, the song’s slower pace and more spacious approach allows Daniel Lyon’s heavily-reverbed vocals to come across clearer, which is necessary in conveying the kinds statements about homelessness and unbridled avarice that Spirit Award aim to make here. If this is a precursor to an upcoming album, then Currency is yet another solid offering from an accomplished, confident psych-rock band that has avenues yet to pursue.

Recommended for both a fog and a strobe machine.