Tag: Single Review

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Lyric Video: SOMBRA Shares Club and Arena Friendly “NINGEN”

SOMBRA is Canadian-born, Tokyo-based producer and songwriter, who blends elements of 90s alt rock, industrial, house, techno and trip hop to create a body of work that effortlessly moves between heavy and atmospheric. Frequently described as “music to turn the lights off to,” the Canadian-born, Japanese-based producer’s live band sets pair his sound with immersive visuals and projection — and feature collaborations with Japanese artists across multiple genres.

His latest single “NINGEN” showcases the Canadian-born, Japanese-based producer’s expansive, forward-thinking and dynamic sound. Sonically bringing Atusko Chiba, Odonis Odonis, and Tweekend-era The Crystal Method to mind, “NINGEN” is both club and arena friendly while featuring some immensely catchy hooks.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Thaïs Shares Bold, Uptempo Rework of “MTL-Paris”

Rising Paris-born, Montréal-based singer/songwriter and JOVM mainstay Thaïs has received attention across the Francophone music world and elsewhere for an atmospheric and delicate pop sound, which perfectly compliments her ethereal delivery.

2022 was a breakthrough year for the JOVM mainstay: She signed with Bravo Musique, who released her highly anticipated full-length debut, Tout est parfait. The following years have been busy for the rising French Canadian artist: She has opened for KYO, M, Arianne Moffatt, Dumas and Suzane while working on her Blaise Borboën and Thaïs co-produced sophomore album Personne, which was released earlier this year.

Described by the JOVM mainstay as “extroverted music for introverts,” Personne‘s material are energetic tracks that are meant to lead towards self-affirmation while allowing listeners to delve deeper into her universe. The album features “Taxi,” a slickly produced, dance floor friendly bop that to my years, sounds as though it were inspired by the likes of Robyn.

The Paris-born, Montréal-based JOVM mainstay recently reworked album single “MTL-Paris.” The album version is simultaneously atmospheric and introspective before slowly morphing into much more dance floor territory, seemingly reflecting a narrator, who’s growing in self-assuredness and confidence. “MTL-Paris V2” is a much more upbeat, dance floor friendly bop from the jump, turning the song from a tale of growing confidence, to one of boldly liberating oneself — with the realization that you’ve only got one life to live.

For the JOVM mainstay, reworking her own work is a creative exercise that allows her to reveal other possible, sometimes even latent facets to her material — all while retaining the “extroverted music for introverts” concept of the album.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Venice’s Glazyhaze Shares Breakneck “ROMEO”

Venice-based indie outfit Glazyhaze — Irene (vocal, guitar), Lorenzo (guitar), Francesco (drums, programming) and Vsevolod (bass, backing vocals) — quickly established a sound that draws from shoegaze, dream pop and alternative rock with the release of their full-length debut, 2023’s Just Fade Away.

Since the release of Just Fade Away, the band has toured across Europe and the UK, opening for the likes of Trentemøller, Hater, Film School and a lengthy list of others. Building up on a growing profile across Europe and the UK, the band released their Paolo Canaglia-produced sophomore album SONIC earlier this year.

Recorded between Northeast Italy and London, the Italian band’s sophomore album thematically explores the complexities of love through a journey of self-discovery and emotional contrasts. Sonically, the album sees the quartet embracing shoegaze, bedroom pop, post-punk and art rock influences. The band supported the album opening for Soft Cult on their European tour as well as a handful of dates with The Raveonettes, Slow Crush, Lucy Kruger and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. And adding to a growing profile, the band has received airplay on KEXP, Rai Radio 2, FM4 and BBC Radio 6’s Steve Lamacq.

Clocking in at a 2:31, SONIC’s latest single, “ROMEO” is a breakneck gallop of a tune anchored around swirling, reverb and distortion-drenched guitar textures, a propulsive rhythm section that seemingly channels 120 Minutes-era MTV-era alt rock. Much like the period that the song and the band channels, “ROMEO” is underpinned by subtle yet noticeable tension between anger, sweetness and nostalgia.

The new single captures the powerlessness that often comes with loving someone who can’t love themselves — and are unwilling and/or incapable of change. As the band explains, “ROMEO” is a song for those who hide behind stubborn pride, who would be more willing to destroy everything rather than show vulnerability; for those who seemingly live with the appearance of control but burn inside and won’t readily admit it. They add that the song is most importantly, a farewell to the illusion — or delusion — that you can save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Elanor Moss Shares Autumnal “Again, My Love”

London-based singer/songwriter Elanor Moss grew up in a very creative, devoutly Catholic family — and she can trace the origins of her career to playing music at church events. Homeschooled through early youth, her parents put an emphasis on nature, reading and music.

Eventually leaving the faith, Moss started writing her own original songs in York, where she studied English Literature and played open mics around the city. During her studies, she discovered Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and The Beatles.

Shortly, after graduation, Moss met producer Oli Deakin, who offered to record her debut EP, 2022’s Citrus. Her work with Deakin took her to NYC, where she began forging a sense of community.

Between the release of Citrus EP and her sophomore EP, 2023’s Cosmic, Moss toured with Christian Lee Huston, Benjamin Francis Leftwich and LYR, and played one-off shoes with Cassandra Jenkins, CMAT and Sam Amidon. And adding to a growing profile, she played sets at Pitchfork London, Green Man Festival, Mosley Folk and a list of others.

The rising London-based artist recently signed to Merge Records, who recently released “Again, My Love,” the first bit of new material from Moss since 2023’s Cosmic EP — and it’s a preview of more new music in 2026. Featuring a gorgeous, autumnal arrangement of strummed acoustic guitar and muted horns, accompanied by Moss’ haunting delivery, “Again, My Love” finds the London-based artist contemplating life’s transitions and the heartache of loss while allowing room for growth, understanding and transformation.

“It’s a song that reflects on change, the nature of change being something that requires you to lose things, and that’s okay, and actually really good. I wrote it when I was really having a rough time,” Moss says. “I was living a troubadour existence for the past couple of years, flitting between different places, and the uncertainty of that way of living was really getting to me. I think that one is a song for me, that I was trying to make a bit more universal.”

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Ireland’s Crá Croí Shares Brooding and Anthemic “Radiation Romance”

Deriving their name from the Gaelic word for “heartache,” “vexation of spirit,” County Cork-based duo Crá Croí — RG (songwriting, production, mixing and mastering) and CD (vocals and visuals) — have employed a fiercely DIY ethos while establishing a sound that meshes elements of 1980s New Wave, post-punk and goth, featuring melancholic synths, dark melodies, angular guitars and sharp, hook-driven vocals.

The Irish duo’s work explores themes of nihilism, love and destruction, dystopian collapsed and nuclear annihilation, often wrapped in irony and paired with post-apocalyptic metaphors.

The County Cork-based duo intend to release a handful of singles with an album and select live shows played over the next year or two. According to the band gigs happen only when the setting is right, because for the duo “art comes first” and their integrity matters more than exposure for the sake of exposure.

Their latest single, the brooding “Radiation Romance” seemingly channels She Wants Revenge and Interpol: swirling and angular power chords are paired with eerie atmospheric synths, a relentless, motorik-like groove and rousingly anthemic hook and chorus that serves as a stormy bed for CD’s punchy, yet Paul Banks-like vocal. Thematically, the song focuses is a tongue in check take on the nuclear annihilation that would make Vincent Price proud.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Philadelphia’s Sri Lanka Shares Brooding and Driving “Solstice”

Sri Lanka is a Philadelphia-based band that originally formed back in 1986. The band quickly established a sound that draws from goth and post-punk, as well as elements of alternative rock and psych rock. They saw extraordinary popularity in the Philadelphia and New York underground music scenes of the late 1980s and 1990s before going through a series of tumultuous lineup changes following the departure of founding member and the tragic death of frontman Brett Turner

Suffering from depression, Turner took his own life back in 1989, when he was 20. The band went on to try out several vocalists before landing on Jose Maldonado. And with Maldonado, the Philadelphia-based post punk went on to record and release 1992’s Shadow and Ivy EP and 1993’s Here. Friction between band members Erb and Maldonado started early on and ultimately led to the band splitting down the middle shortly after the release of Here with Erb and Chairs going in one direction, Maldonado and Stein going in another. Rob Studt retired from music altogether.

Erb went on to rejoin his original founding partner Lee Daniels and formed the band [needle] in 1995.

Back in October 2020, the band announced the forthcoming release of Leviathan on their Facebook Fan page, after a 25 year hiatus. And that November, they released the album’s title track “Leviathan.” They also released two live recordings from Christmas 1998 at Philadelphia’s Club Memphis and February 1989 at Philadelphia’s Revival.

Leviathan‘s latest single “Solstice” is a driving bit of goth-tinged post punk featuring shoegazer guitar textures and industrial thump that seemingly channels Cocteau Twins and contemporaries like ACTORS, while showcasing the band’s ability to craft a driving and rousingly anthemic, catchy hook and chorus.

The band explains that “Solstice” was a previously unrecorded song written back in 1991 that may arguably one of the best songs they’ve ever written.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Kelly Cappuccio is an Italian electronic music producer, whose classical training as a child helped shaped her melodic sensibility and musical ear. Her discovery of electronic music unreleased a creative epiphany: Cappuccio quickly realized she could craft a sound that flows seamlessly between techno and tech house that bridges nostalgia and innovation. 

Her latest single “Chiquilla” is an Ibiza and Miami-styled tech house banger that features Colombian Spanish vocals on a bed of hypnotic driving grooves and warm, analog production and the Italian producer’s unerring knack for euphoria-inducing hooks.

The Italian producer explains that the track is made for the 2:00am peak when the dance floor is packed, the energy is high and you need track with both groove and soul that really stands out.

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Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: New Jersey’s NUSE Returns with a Bruising Ripper

Formed back in the ’90s, Hillsborough, NJ-based metal outfit NUSE — Mike LaMastro (vocals, guitar), Eric Mangual (bass), Bob Mangual (drums) and Mike Wilday (guitar) — exploded into the regional scene with the release of a handful of early EPs before, their full-length debut, 2002’s Hung Well, which was re-released in 2005 through No Joke Records. 

Their sophomore album, 2008’s Forever Starts Today featured the underground smash “Beat to Death.” Building upon a growing profile, their third album, 2012’s All American Beat Down, which featured “Breath & Fluid,” “War Face,” and “Free Tattoos,” broke through nationally, charting in several key markets, including Kansas City (#5), NYC (#8), Philadelphia (#7) and Hawaii (#5) while receiving streams globally across Pandora, Spotify, iTunes and others. 

2018’s The Pain Collection featured “Top Hat Man,” which broke into the Top 10 in NYC and Philadelphia while arguably being their most critically applauded album of their career to date. In 2020, the band, which had long been a trio added Ixion Lux‘ s and Spin Psykill‘s Mike Wilday, Jr., whose rich harmonies and intense leads helped the band’s sound evolve. 

2021’s Evilution: Vol. 1 EP featured acclaimed singles “Swept Away” and “Scoundrel,” which also earned global awards and recognition. With an increasingly larger profile, the New Jersey-based outfit has made a run of the festival circuit, while opening for the likes of Biohazard, Cannibal Corpse, Clutch, Soulfly, Entombed, M.O.D., Mercyful Fate, Misfits, Napalm Death, Nuclear Assault, Overkill, Pro-Pain, Scar the Martyr, Shattered Sun, Testament, Type O Negative, and a growing list of metal heavyweights. 

Earlier this year, the New Jersey-based metalheads released the Evilution: Vol 2 EP, which features the previously released “Malibu,” and the EP’s latest single, EP closing track “Xperimental.” is a swaggering and bruising ripper that’s kind of modern but also manages to channel old school Metallica and Slayer, all while continuing to fit in perfectly with the RidingEasy Records roster.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: JOVM Mainstay Thundercat Tackles A Diana Ross Smash Hit

Since the release of 2020’s critically applauded It is What It Is, the acclaimed JOVM mainstay Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner has remained quite busy. Attention grabbing collaborations with Tame Impala, Gorillaz, Silk Sonic, Kaytranada and Justice have maintained his presence in the music realm. But he’s also branded out into acting with a role in Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett.

Continuing his foray into the realm of television, the JOVM mainstay appeared as a featured musical guest on the rebooted Yo Gabba Gabbaland on Apple TV+. He joined Yo Gabba Gabba! for a NPR Tiny Desk concert. And he appeared at the show’s Coachella set both weekends.

Adding to a large and growing profile, he’s appearing and playing in GAP ads — and he has joined Steve Lacy and Red Hot Chili Peppers on stage.

This year, the acclaimed artist has released two standalone tracks, “I Didn’t Wish I Didn’t Waste Your Time,” and “Children of the Baked Potato” feat. Remi Wolf. His third and latest single sees him tackling the Diana Ross‘ Nile Rodgers and Bernie Edwards penned 1980 smash hit “Upside Down,” arguably one of the sexiest pop songs ever written. Anchored around Thundercat’s muscular, Jaco Pastorious-styled bass lines, the JOVM mainstay’s take on the beloved tune is simultaneously woozy and ethereal while retaining elements of the dance floor friendly original.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Mariachi El Bronx Shares Swooning “Forgive or Forget”

Started back in 2008 as both a side project and creative experiment for the members of Los Angeles-based punk rock The Bronx, Mariachi El Bronx — Matt Caughthran (vocals), Joby J. Ford (guitar, vihuela, accordion), Jared Shavelson (drums), Keith Douglas (trumpet), Ray Suen (violin), Brad Magers (trumpet), Ken Horne (jarana), and Vincent Hidalgo (guitarrón)– has long been deeply rooted in their deep connection to the Hispanic music and culture of their hometown. Although seemingly different, the and doesn’t see punk and mariachi as mutually exclusive. Instead, they view both genres as spiritually entwined forces anchored in resilient storytelling. “Punk rock and mariachi music are very similar in soul,” The Bronx’s and Mariachi El Bronx’s Matt Caughthran says. “It’s working class music. It’s real music.”

Despite almost two decades of success, that has included sharing stages with Foo Fighters and The Killers; sets across the global festival circuit, including Coachella and Glastonbury; performances on Late Show with David Letterman to NPR’s Tiny Desk; and theme songs for shows like Weeds and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the members of Mariachi El Bronx still consider themselves lifelong students of the art form. That reverence carries over to their charro suits, which often attract as much attention as the music itself. The band has long turned to Boyle Heights-based Casa del Mariachi, a historic Los Angeles area landmark, where Jorge “Mr. George” Tello has been handcrafting the traditional suits for over 50 years. “This band has always been about learning and exchanging culture through music and art,” says Caughthran. “That’s what it’s all about! Everything we do comes from the heart and soul.”

Mariachi El Bronx’s long-awaited fourth album, the John Avila-produced Mariachi El Bronx IV is slated for a February 13, 2026 release through ATO Records. The album, which is the first album from the project in a decade, sees the trailblazing alter-egos of The Bronx continuing to embody the same ethos that sparked their creation — honoring the rich Hispanic music and culture that has always surrounded them in their hometown, while pushing creative boundaries.

Clashing emotions of profound loss and overwhelming love shaped the album’s themes. The songwriting “started as a battle between love and death but became a way to process all the chaos of the world,” Caughthtran explains. Throughout the run of the album’s 12-tracks, the band documents the stories of gamblers, former playboys, warriors and lovers — characters that became vessels for the specific pressures of modern life.

Returning after a decade away felt “joyous and familiar from the jump,” the band’s Joby J. Ford says. But the album’s recording process proved to be much more complex than expected. Within the year that he began writing the album’s lyrics, Caughthran contended with the deaths of several loved ones. And as they tracked the album’s material at producer John Avila’s San Gabriel Valley studio, the Eaton Canyon wildfires blazed across East L.A. “We came out of the studio one night, the entire side of the hill was just on fire,” Ford recalls.

While dealing with grief in his personal life and within Los Angeles, Caughthran also got married in the same year. All of these very profoundly human experiences and feelings have informed what may arguably be Mariachi El Bronx’s most emotionally resonate work to date.

Mariachi El Bronx IV’s first single, album opener “Forgive or Forget” features violinist Ray Suen on a swooning and galloping track that captures the nostalgia, bitter heartache, the longing to forget that heartache, and the desire to move forward with a seemingly booze-tinged haze. Fittingly, the song is rooted in a complicated and uneasy mix of despair and hope that feels lived-in and familiar.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Helsloot’s Driving Remix of ARTBAT and Sailor & I’s “Best Of Me”

Originally released back in 2005, Booka Shade vs. M.A.N.D.Y.‘s critically applauded “Body Language” quickly became an instant classic and a defining track of mid-00s club culture. Built around a tactile bass line and an elegant sense of restraint, “Body Language” captured what Berlin-based label Get Physical Music had set out to represent: music that was both physically irresistible and and emotionally nuanced. 

“Body Language” gave its name to Get Physical’s flagship compilation series, which has since become one of the label’s defining contributions to electronic music. Over more than two decades and 26 volumes, the series has been curated by Dixon, DJ Hell, WhoMadeWho, Monkey Safari, Francesco Tristano, Yulia Niko and founders Booka Shade, DJ T., and M.A.N.D.Y. Each edition of the compilation series has functioned as both documentation and argument, a reflection of underground currents and a projection of where club culture’s potential future. 

Dutch producer Helsloot is known across the global electronic music scene for his melodic, vocal-led sound. His collaboration with Tinlicker “Because You Move Me” has amassed over 600 million streams. He has released material through a number of electronic labels including Anjunadeep, Domino, This Never Happened and Ritter Butzke. His full-length debut, last year’s Never Tried further cemented his reputation for a balancing emotional weight with dance floor precision.

Helsloot with be curating Get Physical’s Body Language, Vol. 27. Slated for a November 14, 2025 release, the 27th edition will see the rising Dutch producer bringing a contemporary perspective to the series. Last month, I wrote about the rising Dutch producer’s bold reworking on the oft-remixed “Body Language,” a take that irresistibly beckons the listener to get to that dance floor and move your ass.

The Dutch producer’s Body Language, Vol. 27 will feature, his remix of Ukrainian production duo ARTBAT‘s “Best Of Me.” Originally released back in 2020 through Get Physical’s sister label METAPHYSICAL, the melodic techno track quickly became a club anthem. In 2021, Sailor & I contributed his own, original album mix on Diving For Lost Treasure, showcasing the song’s depth as a vocal-driven track.

Helsloot’s remix places the Sailor & I vocal in a hypnotic and driving production that to my ears reminds me a bit of Tour de France-era Kraftwerk, JOVM mainstay LutchmaK and Octo Octa: layers of glistening and melodic synths are paired with a relentless motorik-like groove and crackling breakbeats. The Helsloot take is simultaneously club and late-night drive friendly without removing the emotional weight of the Sailor & I vocal.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Queens’ THROES NYC Shares Brooding and Sultry “Bridge”

Queens-based duo THROES NYC — cousins Courtney Leo (vocals) and multi-instrumentalist and producer Michael Bozzo — have been making music together since they were children. As teens, their regular haunts were CGBG’s, Roseland and Irving Plaza, where they soaked up the energy and spirit of the ’90s and early ’00s NYC scene.

With THROES NYC, Leo and Bozo blend elements of Indie Rock, New Wave, Pop and Trip-Hop with the energy and spirit of the ’90s and early ’00s NYC scene that they grew up with.

Released earlier this month, the duo’s latest EP HOWL features their latest single “Bridge.” “Bridge” sees the Queens-based duo blending elements of contemporary alt pop, Bristol trip hop to create a broodingly eerie and atmospheric bed for Leo’s sultry delivery.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Pacifica Shares Club Banging “Indie Boyz”

With the release of their full-length debut, 2023’s Freak Scene and last year’s acoustic Freak Scene: NAK Sessions, Buenos Aires-based duo Pacifica — Inés Adam and Martina Nintzel — quickly became a global sensation, for their unique blend of early 2000s garage rock, post-punk and 90s alt rock, and for their reputation for blistering live shows that channel friendship, chaos and catharsis in equal measure.

The Argentine duo have played sold-out shows across North America, Europe and South America, sharing stages with internationally renowned acts like Franz Ferdinand, St. Vincent, Kim Gordon and Måneskin while amassing over 880,000 followers across social media platforms, and over 25 million streams, plus millions of viral moments on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

Pacifica’s recently released sophomore album, In Your Face marks a bold new era for the Buenos Aires-based duo, an era that captures their trademark mix of vulnerability and rebellion with more bite, confidence and self-awareness than ever before, while anchored in lived-in, deeply personal experience.

“In Your Face is an introspective journey that brushes through themes of heartbreak, betrayal, lust, spite, immaturity, and regret — all with a pinch of humor and light-heartedness,” the band explains. “It’s about cause and consequence. Accepting fate and flaws, realizing some things really are the other person’s fault, falling in love and wanting to jump off a building for someone, learning to be patient, and just living through it — Tokyo streets, Maseratis, vibes.”

Album single “Indie Boyz” is thumping, tongue-in-cheek, DFA Records-era dance punk/indie sleaze-inspired banger, anchored around a scuzzy power chords and a Gang of Four-like bass line that sees the duo mocking the shit out of the sort of indie scene fuckbois that they would come across at the club.

The band notes that it’s “not to be taken too seriously — just a description of a week of going out almost every night. No poetry, just vibes.,” They also note that the song is also a nod to a trendy LA club, Tenants of the Trees.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Frais Dispo Returns with Strutting Yet Meditative “Habitat”

Montréal-based indie rock outfit Frais Dispo — Élie Raymond (guitar, vocals), Antoine Lévesque-Roy (bass), Thomas Bruneau Faubert (trombone, synths), Charles Primeau (guitar) and Antoine Gallois (drums) — is simultaneously a rebrand and a markedly radical direction for its members, who first gained attention across both Quebec and Canada as Foreign Diplomats. As Frais Dispo, the Montréal-based outfit have adopted a much more collaborative songwriting approach with lyrics written and sung completely in French.

2023’s Teinte, the newly rebranded band’s full-length debut and last year’s Les teints du ciel n’ont aucun sens EP found Frais Dispo quickly and firmly establishing a markedly new sonic direction with their sound drawing much more alt-country, folk and indie rock.

Building upon the attention that Teinte and Les tients du ciel n’int aucun sens EP received in the Francophone world, the Montréal-based outfit’s highly-anticipated sophomore album is slated for a 2026 release through Audiogram. The album will feature, the gorgeous, psych country-meets-Laurel Canyon-like “Dire je t’aime au téléphone,” “Mes amis m’haïssent,” and the album’s third and latest single “Habitat.”

Frais Dispo’s forthcoming sophomore album sees the band adopting a more laid-back, spontaneous songwriting approach throughout the entire creative process. The album’s tracks were recorded live to make the songs live and breathe — and to help create a much more organic sound. As “Dire je t’aime au téléphone” ends, you hear a bit of murmured voices, laughter, and a brief sigh and a phone ringing, which gives the listener a sense of being in the studio with the band — and a real warm, imperfect, human element. By working this way, the band wanted to focus more on the emotions at the core of the material rather than the technique, all while capturing the buzzy euphoria of the first studio recordings. 

“Habitat,” which features a sample of a Polish song, ambient sounds and vocals is arguably the most groovy, most exploratory and most jam-like song that the band has released from the album to date. Anchored around a strutting groove, a looping guitar figure and a four-on-the-four-like drum pattern, before ending in a cacophony of chiming guitars and feedback, “Habitat” features the band’s Élie Raymond singing lyrics that thematically touch on the idea of settling down and settling in, of the need for security, a desire for mundanity and repetition — while making references to Micheal DeForge’s graphic novel Birds of Maine.

The song came about spontaneously at the end of their sophomore album’s writing process, when the band believed that they had completed the album. They worked from a guitar riff that Charles Primeau created with Raymond, Gallois, Lévesque-Roy and Bruneau Faubert improvising around those initial chords, managing to layer parts over one another. “We’ve been playing together for a long time, we always manage to find a symbiosis,” explains Élie Raymond.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Animal Scream Shares Broodingly Eerie “I’m A Spirit”

2023’s Heartbroke Motel saw the Pittsburgh-based duo Animal Scream —  Chad Monticue and Josh Sickels — pushing their noir-ish, cinematic sound in new directions while drawing from eclectic influences like  David Lynch, MF DOOM and 60s reggae.

The duo’s latest single “I Am A Spirit” is a brooding and eerie tune, anchored around Voodoo-like percussion, bursts of twinkling keys and atmospheric textures. While being perfect for spooky season, “I Am A Spirit” may arguably be the most cinematic song the Pittsburgh-based duo has written or released to date.

“‘I’m A Spirit’ is about a confused entity suddenly realizing it doesn’t belong in this world and attempts its escape to another place, but fears it may be trapped in between if it doesn’t make it in time,” the band’s Chad Monticue says.