Spirit Award earns their gold star on crunchy and fuzzed out Lunatic House
Originally punished by Alt Citizen
Lunatic House, the third album from Seattle’s Spirit Award forms the culmination of a trilogy of crunchy and fuzzed out albums that subverts genre conventions by crystalizing psychedelic ambiguity with jagged alt-rock precision under a generous layer of alchemical sonic wizardry. The album wastes absolutely no time kicking into high gear, opening with massive guitar crunch reminiscent of early Black Rebel Motorcycle Club before veering off into an entirely new direction.
Mile high vocals punch through a tinfoil layer of metallic distortion on a flash of chiming melody like the high-beams of an approaching automobile on a pitch-black night, bobbing with wave-like motions over hilly terrain, alternatively illuminating the ground and searing the cold undersides of the sky. Spirit Award follows this similar pattern as the tracklist progresses, fleshing out motorik mechanical rhythms with an astounding amount of wobbly effects that bundle layer upon layer without completely concealing the rigid structure underneath. Although Spirit Award certainly has a formula, the band leverages each track as an exercise in bending and twisting that structure into exciting new forms.
“Unlock The Door” gives the first taste of mesmerizing potential as the track swaggers across the speakers with hazy confidence that recalls Be Here Now-era Oasis without the overblown pomp and circumstance; a sunny afternoon spent lightly toasted watching the sun recede behind the hills in a spectacular exposition of color and light. A peaked, guitar-forward outro leads directly into the brief companion track “Unlock The Love,” conjuring the sensation of a beaded curtain parting invitingly in slow-motion with the promise of a soft comedown bathed in the warm, otherworldly glow of gooey lava lamps behind a tangible veil of incense and smoke. Paired together the tracks are a complete story of harmless hedonism bereft of responsibility, an intentionally directionless interlude between the persistent pressures of the tracks before and after.
As if awakening from a dream, “Mantra” seeks penance for a season of dalliances as ecclesiastical organs lift choral vocals in personal confession: “all of the love I could get, all of the fuckin’ to forget, it would never ever amount to this. All of the choices that I make, all of the drugs I could take, it would never ever be real as this,” positions this track as the antithesis of the previous two, a step back from a distracted existence towards a more authentic and meaningful life that places greater value on being present rather than hovering in the margins.
From this point Lunatic House gets right back to the punchy attitude that defined the first half of the record, but this time there’s a definite method to the madness. “You want a piece of the miracle?” barks over a pogoing beat inspiring action and activity on “Work It Out,” and “Shout (Kill The Rich)” galvanizes newfound clarity into a socialist rallying cry to topple institutional inequality before collapsing into a zen-like meditation of vibrating feedback and peaceful resistance.
Lunatic House closes out with some straightforward rockin’ and jangly 80s indie pop before turning the mirror back on the listener amidst tinted psychedelia that builds and swirls in a tempest of pounding drums and kaleidoscopic guitar. Spirit Award has told their tale with purpose and flair, asking only that you decide how to make the next move.
'Lunatic House' is out now, available on vinyl and digital via Bandcamp, and streaming on Spotify. Follow Spirit Award on Instagram.