Seaspin opened for the excellent Telefone Tel Aviv show I saw and reported on a few weeks back. Drawing largely from the shoegaze movement, Seaspin, writes very whimsical melodies that are thrusted into guitar heavy “walls of sound”. Growing up on the beach in bright and sunny Southern California, I still managed to wear lots of black and listen to bands like Cocteau Twins, The Cranes, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Lush, etc… sooo I really can appreciate a band that wants to recreate such a successful yet still arguably obscure era of music. God knows I couldn’t count the many days that I felt a little down, smoked some weed, jumped on my bike with headphones and listened to Loveless.
The name Seaspin – seriously – is the perfect name for a shoegaze band out of Los Angeles. I get these gorgeous mental images of the quintessential Los Angeles sunset, all the reds, yellows, magenta’s, purples cascading through the smoggy clouds mixing with the blue green ocean, the tide rising and falling. And I see those rare summer nights when the grunion come on shore, the white moonlight catches their silvery bodies and all I wanna do is eat some shroomies and feel at one with all the cycles the ocean goes through… those sorta moments are encapsulated in the name and swirly sound they evoke – which is pretty epic. And just like the ocean, their lyrics are pretty confrontational and fuck you, yet the attitude they are sung in creates a very detached, soothing and often introspective mental soundscape.
For all of this I want to give them two thumbs up but it is 2009 and what we are hearing isn’t new. Wouldn’t it be great if they got someone like Shundra K or Lil Kim to freestyle during a “wall of sound” moment or do you got a suggestion for a genre this band should hijack? A band thinking they are done creating once they’ve recreated a past scene is being lazy. And I see too much talent here. Their EP is worth a listen. Let us hope that these are just the early recordings of something much grandeur happening down the road.
Tracks off their Reverser EP:
Seaspin – Love is a Fable
Seaspin – Dream Life
Seaspin – Reverser
