Premiere: Spooky Cool Offers Two Sensational Movements Within “Sedan”
This Friday, indie-psych outfit Spooky Cool will release Existential Pie, their first collection of music since 2018’s beloved Every Thing Ever EP. Nine tracks of daring hyper-rock sounds make up the new album and it’s a bold progression for the band as they welcome the frenetic nature of electronic sounds into their already cagey skillset. We’ve gotten previews of the record’s shifty sound so far in 2022, most notably “Net Ignored” and “Time Will Tell,” but today, The Auricular is proud to premiere perhaps the most ambitious track on Existential Pie, the quixotic song “Sedan.”
A two-part movement in vocal finesse and tonal contrast, “Sedan” shows how our minds can often attach great importance to otherwise inconsequential moments in time. The elaborate track plays out like an out-of-body experience that crumbles upon realizing the amusing reality the epiphany was actually based on. In this sense alone, the song is sharp and clever, but the band’s sonic vision takes this otherwise peculiar exercise to a whole new level.
The first movement of “Sedan” is an impressive space rock journey. Warm, gleaming tones open up before being ripped apart by a forceful guitar line, all while a thudding bass line seethes in the background. Soon, ethereal harmonies glide in, providing the most stunning vocal moment of the whole album. By the time the drums come crashing in, the song reaches a sonic high of lofty prog-rock with the vocals ascending higher and higher into the ether. At the crest of this swirling wonder, we’re greeted with a peculiar drum machine sound that snaps us back to the unpolished reality of the song’s next part.
By the time that drum machine is joined by new sounds, the interstellar ambience has been abandoned as the song constructs a glistening dance beat driven by musing lyrics and bouncy instruments. The vocals here are more direct and flowing, yet still ear-catching as they set the stage with scenes that move from the titular Sedan to a secluded bar booth before ultimately landing on a sordid kitchen floor. Glib and gaudy, this contrasting piece still offers an imposing, grandiose sound, but one that moves at a brisk pace and is grounded in real life as opposed to the preceding cosmic overture.
By themselves, the two sections of “Sedan” are remarkable. Each could easily stand on their own merit if stretched out longer thanks to their ample sound and luxuriant vision. In joining the two together though, the band creates the most fascinating moment on Existential Pie and one that epitomizes the album’s bold musical statement. As they move through breakbeat rhythms and electro-rock melodies, Spooky Cool constructs something unique in every song on the record. Each can stand tall on their own, but when joined together, they create a truly magnificent work of art that feels exciting and imposing from the opening moment to the closing moment, just like “Sedan” which will find you marveling at the lofty soundscapes while also humming along to a catchy, matter-of-fact lyric like “I was sitting in a Sedan.”
Existential Pie is available on all streaming platforms this Friday, October 28th and you can pre-save it via a nifty landing page (link here).
Spooky Cool is marking the occasion with an album release show at The Camel this Saturday, October 29th with opening sets by Deli Kings, Opin, and Colpa Mia. Tickets are $7 in advance and $12 the day of the show. For more information, make sure to head to The Camel’s website (link here).
