It’s only natural that the Pacific Northwest would become one of the largest suppliers of shoegaze bands amidst the genre’s recent revival, given that so much of the alt-rock scene which brought these sounds to America was born in and around Seattle. The latest band to help carry that torch is Spiral XP, who’ll be following up their series of recent EPs with a debut album titled I Wish I Was a Rat this October. The first single, “Luna,” is an apt follow-up to those releases as it balances errantly wailing riffs with hushed verses and awe-struck lyrics.
“This song is an ode to the moon,” explains vocalist Max Keyes, who additionally plays drums with the band Versing. “I wrote the melody in my head when I was on tour with another band and we were driving under a full moon on a clear night in the middle of nowhere. I like that it can also be read as a love song of sorts—I wanted to capture the feeling of being totally awestruck and captivated. It starts the album off on a purely optimistic note, but maybe overwhelmingly so, as the fuzz and drums come crashing down.”
While the music clearly pays homage to the ’90s, the song’s music video takes things back to the late-’50s with an overt nod to Bergman (or Seinfeld, if we’re sticking to one decade). “The video is an homage to The Seventh Seal, set in a late capitalist context,” Keyes adds. “I play a chess game against Death, trying to outsmart him on behalf of the band. In the end, though, the daily grind is killing us all, and Death comes for the band in a variety of gruesome ways.”
Check out the video directed by Keyes and guitarist Jordan Mang below, and pre-save I Wish I Was a Rat ahead of its October 18 release via Danger Collective here.
