Review Summary: Both Spooky AND Cool.
Richmond, VA experimental rock band Spooky Cool’s debut mini-LP
Every Thing Ever (2018) was longform, angular prog rock with an odd and gratifying capacity to render tri-tone “devil’s interval”-type dissonance pretty; lyrically, it was as much of a party as a set of densely scaffolded Imagist breakup songs can be. Throughout, their sonic weapons remained much the same: the ringing vocal harmonies of Zac Hryciak and Paula Lavalle, the clarion call of jazzy guitars quickly leaping up and down scales of unknown provenance, and the intensely creative drumming of Lee Spratley, who reminds me of Frog Eyes’ Melanie Campbell because of his tension-generating preference for a good drumroll over a four-on-the-floor release. But Spooky Cool, despite the consistency of their timbres, did not go softly into that good night; their songs morphed in constantly surprising ways, in addition to the already-complex chord progressions and harmonic voicings populating each individual section.
Existential Pie makes a few key modifications to the proggy
Every Thing Ever, in particular through executing a unique and comprehensive mood of alienness, defamiliarization, of Martianity. This effect, which doesn’t of necessity rob the album of its affective power, is accomplished primarily through an increased focus on digital instruments and a slick production job, and it fits Spooky Cool quite well: it’s spooky,
and cool! They’re a bit poppier and a bit less proggy now, too, with more rhythmic drive and melodies that feel slightly more shapely by conventional standards. That said, sneering synth pop hooks like those belonging to opener “Net Ignored” are only pop in a very relative sense, still hopping from dissonance to consonance in a way that nearly makes one woozy. Despite its fragmented form of serious catchiness, whole of
Existential Pie, in fact, could be said to be unusually vertigo-inducing even for “experimental”/avant-garde rock music—and I think that’s the idea. Spooky Cool’s music seems very hard to play, which is maybe also the idea or a way to get to it; I feel as if Spooky Cool possess the slightly unfashionable instinct to render ecstasy or catharsis as a technical display—intensely dynamic guitar tracks that sing and shine but still have the sheen of chrome, diminished chords stacked upon quickly swirling and recontextualizing bass, and of course Spratley’s highly varied pitter-patters.
I haven’t read the lyrics to
Existential Pie, but I imagine I’ll have to in order to understand Hryciak’s extremely dense natural and spiritual imagery—and that density, too, helps you understand the project of Spooky Cool, who just
sound smart. One’s desire to grab a beer with this or that politician or artist is often thought of as a correlative to that figure’s putatively easygoing attitude, their humility, and to some extent probably their desire not to constantly push social boundaries. But *** it, through their braininess in all the big ways and savvy with the small stuff, Spooky Cool have secured my vote, and why not? I like IPAs, too!
