Stream: The Spires, ‘Dreamconfusion’

Kevin Bronson on February 6th, 2016

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Singer-guitarist Jason Bays coined a state of mind for the title track of the Spires’ new album: “Dreamconfusion.” It’s rather perfect, as we always imagine Bays sitting cross-legged somewhere up in Ventura, alternately befuddled and bemused by the general state of affairs and weighing in with jangling, fuzzy guitar-pop gems. Like the album’s predecessors — 2013’s “Eternal Yeah,” 2011’s “Forever City Chorus,” 2010’s “Curved Space” and 2009’s “A Way of Seeing” — Bays on the new release sounds typically droll and almost disengaged, but that’s always been smokescreen. The Spires’ subtle brilliance lies in their seductive but shape-shifting drone, coating Bays’ nonchalant couplets in reverb (see “Tea With Demons” and “Big Blue Nothing”). Bays’ collaborators on this album included bassists Danny Gomez and Seth Pettersen, guitarist Bryan Russell and drummer Brook Dalton, as well as violinist Luke McAuliffe and the Melvins’ Coady Willis (bells on “Big Blue”). “Dreamconfusion” will make perfect sense to fans of Galaxie 500, Kiwi-pop stalwarts like Able Tasmans, Robyn Hitchcock and the solo work of the Vaselines’ Eugene Kelly. Engage.

||| Stream: “Dreamconfusion”