Skip the Morning After with Spendtime Palace's "Blackout Control"
It’s 11AM on a Sunday. Light filters through the trees onto the vibrant red, yellow, and brown of the fall ground. “Blackout Control” by Spendtime Palace streams through my earbuds, and nothing matters for a fragile moment as “time liquifies through our fingers without control.” California-based...
It’s 11AM on a Sunday. Light filters through the trees onto the vibrant red, yellow, and brown of the fall ground. “Blackout Control” by Spendtime Palace streams through my earbuds, and nothing matters for a fragile moment as “time liquifies through our fingers without control.”
California-based Spendtime Palace released their album “All Inclusive Romantic Getaway” in early 2019. In a January 2019 ALTANGELES interview, the band divulged that the album is meant to screw with the listener. The music is shoegazey and dreamy, making you think the songs are going to be perfect and romantic, when in actuality, the lyrics are about heartbreak and loss of control.
My favorite song on the album, “Blackout Control,” perfectly follows this outline. The track uses distorted guitar and echoey keyboard notes to create an almost hazy, emotional sound that hits inside your chest. Yet, the lyrics are about depending on alcohol to get through the time when the person you love isn’t around. The lyrics are expertly crafted to make you feel a despondency at the singer’s dependency. The lines “When nights go dry / and it feels they falling all the same / I turn around and grab a cup / and turn the night into a cunning mistake,” and “Things button up and turn around when she’s in town,” are particularly hard-hitting.
While personally I think “Blackout Control” is the best song on the album, “All-Inclusive Romantic Getaway” is an incredibly chill, yet upbeat collection of combo synth and surf-rock songs. The tracks’ sound give you the experience of a relaxing vacation without ever having to leave home. It is definitely worth a listen- especially if you find yourself outside in perfect weather and with a pair of shitty earbuds.