The AU review is thrilled to premiere “Spirit World”, the new single and video from Los Angeles alt-punk garage outfit SP’s, ahead of its release on October 15th. The track is the latest taste of the band’s debut album, Dating at the End of the World, due March 26th, 2027 via Baby Robot Records.
“Spirit World” opens in a maelstrom of guitars, with Steve Albertson diving straight into a refrain that’s half invitation, half threat: “I will shepherd your soul into the afterlife with me.” When he reaches “I just couldn’t let you go,” the fog lifts. His vocal comes through clear, and something spookier settles over the song as he welcomes you to your new home among the ghosts. Later the invitation turns gentler, almost seductive, with a promise to guide you across the astral sea to the other side. Whether you’re brave enough to go is up to you.
The verses pull back, but the snare never does, rattling along underneath and keeping the tension high. Steve LaBate’s Pixies-inspired lead guitar, textured but aggressive, pulls the song away from by-the-numbers punk, and midway through, the band drift into a dreamy ’50s-style breather. The calm doesn’t last. The song closes the way it opened, with the refrain hammered home over the same chaos. SP’s have made the afterlife sound like a party you’d happily never come home from.
SP’s formed in Los Angeles in 2016, drawing on members’ backgrounds in punk, garage rock and experimental music. Albertson (vocals) and LaBate (guitar, organ, piano, backing vocals) first met in Atlanta in 2011 before moving to LA, where they teamed up with James Holland (bass, backing vocals) and Allen Kronenberger (drums, piano, backing vocals). Their 2019 EP Rise/Fall introduced a politically charged, genre-hopping sound, but the pandemic stalled their progress soon after. Dating at the End of the World is the album they’ve been working towards since. Recorded at Savannah Studios in East LA with producer Julia Kugel and engineer Wyatt Blair, and mastered by Rob Kleiner, it sets protest, political dread and heartbreak against arty indie-punk, chaotic power pop and a stubborn streak of irreverence.
Of the track, Albertson says:
“Am I already dead? Am I a murderer? Am I simply helping you to explore other planes of existence? Have you attempted to astral project into other dimensions with any success, with only a silver cord tethering you to life? I love the mythic world of what could be waiting for us after our death. The song is packed full of witchy imagery and the potential warlock-like powers of traversing the spirit world while still in the mortal plane. Dreaming of taking someone on an adventure like the boatman Charon, but with a furious punk rock spirit. Years ago, I was in a play by novelist Joe Meno called I Love the Spirit World, and those words have really stuck with me. I also love the Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers song ‘Astral Plane,’ which is its own bit of fun.”
LaBate adds:
“‘Spirit World’ has always been one of my favorite SP’s songs to play live. When we launch into it, I feel like I’m in Star Wars and the Millennium Falcon is making the jump to hyperspace. Like, I close my eyes and I’m in the lightspeed tunnel, shot out of a cannon across the cold blackness of space. I love the loud/soft/loud grunge thing we have going on from the chorus to the verses and back, and the hypnotic guitar figure I play behind Albertson’s vocal. And then for a total left-field twist, there’s the abrupt shift into the doo-wop spacewalk section. I have great memories of sitting around the studio break room with guest vocalists Allison Pons & Holly Parker, working out the backing vocals while I played the song on acoustic guitar. They sound so good on it. As for the vibe of the bridge, I’m pretty sure I told them, our engineer Wyatt Blair & producer Julia Kugel that I wanted it to sound like an astronaut who leaves the shuttle on a spacewalk, something goes wrong, his oxygen line is cut and he’s floating off into oblivion. They all absolutely nailed it too. Take your protein pills & put your helmet on for this one.”
For bassist James Holland, the song was always about speed:
“I don’t actually remember how this came together. I played the bass and fuzz pedal, and remember in the process of writing it always trying to push it faster, and trying different versions of the bassline for the verses until I hit on just keeping it straightforward but with an interesting rhythm. Whether it’s loud and in your face or quiet and pulled back, it’s always in the pocket – a very fast pocket. The song got so much better once we added the female backing vocals to the bridge with Allison and Holly. Even if it’s just that one part, it adds so much depth. The music video’s look and feel fits right in with Adult Swim and South Park. And that’s awesome! As far as the afterlife goes, we’re all a drop of water temporarily separated from the ocean.”
Drummer Allen Kronenberger was chasing the same thing:
“I thiiiiink when writing this song, we were just jamming and recorded the practice session. We found the wild guitar parts in the recording and decided to focus on those which became the very beginning of the song. I played drums and tried to make the song as fast as possible. The song sounds like it’s teetering off the edge of being out of control like a runaway train. Right out of the gate, it’s fast, loud, and in your face. It’s one of my favorites on the whole album. I really like the ‘Sha la la la’ in the bridge… that whole bridge takes us and the song to the afterlife. Oh man, when Callum Scott-Dyson first pitched us the idea for the video, I wasn’t certain how he could get so much imagery and wild actions into a 2+ minute video. Well he did! And more! It’s wild, chaotic, and so much fun!”
The video, hand-drawn, written, directed and animated by Scott-Dyson in collaboration with the band, takes the lyrics at their word. Its protagonist is invited to dance with all the ghosts, and he does, alongside a troupe of skeletons. Promised liberation for his bones under the yew tree, he gets it in the most literal way possible, torn apart by the tree itself. Along the way, ghosts and ghouls torment him, a haunted house swallows him, and an evil train hauls him off to further surreal punishment. The band appear throughout and fare no better, smashed with hammers, fed through mechanical gears and blasted off into space.
Scott-Dyson says:
“I loved making the video for ‘Spirit World’ as it really gave me a chance to dive into more chaotic, grotesque and subversive ideas, something I love to do when I get a project that allows for that kind of imagery. As soon as I heard the song, I knew I was going to have to really push it with the speed of the action and editing and make sure the colours and imagery really pop to keep up with such a madcap, fast song. We spoke about a bunch of ideas and references before we got into production, exploring all kinds of subversive ideas like cults, hell, the apocalypse, wanting to merge the complex and fantastical qualities of a Bosch painting with my more scratchy hand drawn card-cut-out animation style. I’m really happy with how it came out and hope people out there dig the video!”
Will you be seduced by SP’s psychopompic charm? Dive in and find out.
“Spirit World” is out October 15th. SP’s will release Dating at the End of the World on March 26th, 2027 via Baby Robot Records.
You can give SP’s a follow on Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon
Header image credit: Holly Parker
