Jake Ingalls and Eric Martin launched Spaceface in 2014 after the former began a near-decade stint playing keys and guitar for The Flaming Lips. Since stepping away from that opportunity a few years back, we’ve gotten an uptick in output from the project he co-created with a like-minded admiration for psychedelic space-rock and a similar tendency for collaboration, with the band’s formal lineup seeming to change from release to release—if not from song to song.
Yet their forthcoming third album Lunar Manor serves as the duo’s most focused release to date, aided by Teal Pop’s Marina Aguerre on bass and Double Wish’s Garet Powell on drums. Out August 22 via the Canadian psych-focused label Mothland, this latest release also sees them experimenting lyrically, as heard in the political bent of new single “Everything Is Money.” “Humor, satire, and politics don’t usually enter into the conversation when we’re trying to write,” shares Ingalls. “Because when we’re writing, there’s always something one of us is secretly trying to get off of their chest, but the other is just earnestly pitching ideas to make the song go. So I think I was secretly trying to make a social-commentary song while Eric was trying to make a cool-sounding song. When I was in the booth pitching lyric melodies, Eric kept walking around going, ‘Ohh shit! We’re gettin’ political!”
Defined by a loping indie-pop bounce, neo-psych flourishes, and falsetto vocals that bring Portugal. The Man or Tame Impala to mind, the track is the culmination of several years of encountering ludicrous financial roadblocks. “Years ago, we were on tour in the northeast and tried to go to a beach by the pier and there was a no-shit bouncer saying it cost, like, $20 to get in. It was so ridiculous it inspired a joke about writing a song called ‘Beach Bouncer.’ I’ve been sitting on a synth version of ‘Everything Is Money’’s main riff since then with that in mind. Then, in 2020, I saw images of that state’s official who had shut down the beaches entirely lounging on the beach with his family. I think anyone with an internet connection could point to countless instances of government officials being resource-hoarding hypocrites just begging for the guillotine.”
Citing the track as a spiritual sequel to “Millions & Memes” from 2022’s Anemoia LP, he adds: “Also, years ago, I saw a meme of a little boy with clenched fists and the caption said ‘Why the fuck does everything cost money,’ which has been a joke that anyone who’s been in Spaceface can attest. Eric and I say it all the time.”
Check out the trippy lyric video below, and pre-order Lunar Manor here.
